The Menlo School boys tennis team captured its 16th Central Coast Section championship with a 4-3 victory over visiting Bellarmine Thursday.
A tight contest came down to the final match, in which Menlo juniors Soren Sutaria and Nik Khuntai edged Jacob Callahan and MJ Simmons in three sets at No. 1 doubles.
"Every time we play them, it's a battle," Menlo senior co-captain Justin Tian said. "It was a match we really wanted to win. We worked really hard for it."
Junior Rishi Jain was first off the court with a straight-set win at No, 4 singles win over Justin Peng. Menlo tied the score again at 2 when junior Mick Tamas also won in straight sets at No. 2 singles over Darian Quinonez.
The Bells' No. 3 doubles team of Jono Moore and Alex Nguyen won 6-4, 6-4 over Rohan Shah and Justin Creamer. Menlo freshman Evan Burnett gave the Knights a 3-2 lead with a 6-0, 7-6 win over Anish Lolabattu.
The teams have played six times in the last 12 years with Menlo winning five times. The past two seasons before the pandemic halted the 2020 season, the teams split with Menlo winning CCS in 2018 and Bellarmine in 2019.
"Last year, having our season cut short was pretty sad, especially because we stopped playing right before our big tournaments, " Tian said,. "It was really disappointing. And, at the beginning of this school year, it looked like we wouldn't even be able to play at all, but it all worked out and I'm really glad we got to play this year. Being able to play CCS this year was a blessing."
