Tartans Edge Top-Seeded Temecula Valley to Advance to Semifinals

This is what the CIF playoffs are all about. Close matches, high tension and the players stepping up to meet the challenge. 

It was the kind of tennis match that put everyone’s nerves to the test. After trading shot after shot all afternoon, the evenly matched teams tied on sets won, 9-9.
but St. Margaret’s edged Temecula Valley on games in the Division 3 quarterfinals.

(A quick refresher on high school tennis: 18 sets are played -- nine in singles and nine in doubles.  The team that wins the majority of sets wins the match  If the teams tie in sets, the match is decided by number of games won.)

By a very narrow 75-73 margin, the Tartans advance to the semifinals on Tuesday, May 24, when they will host Placentia Valencia, the Empire League champion that won its quarterfinal, 14-4, over Oaks Christian on Tuesday.

“See my gray hair?  When this match started, I had dark hair,” joked St. Margaret’s coach Rick Trager.

Top-seeded Temecula Valley came into the match as Southwestern League champions with an unblemished 21-0 record and anchored by a strong singles lineup, headed by sophomore Troy Chavez.

Trager was well aware of the Bears' strength and knew if the Tartans, the third-place team from the Academy League, were going to win, they would need one of their freshman singles players to come through with an upset.

“We have young guys playing singles,” Trager said. “I told them to play fearless tennis. If they are afraid, they won’t do well. The pressure is on [Temecula Valley], not us.”

Freshmen Brooks Robinson and Sam Friedman each answered their coach’s call when the team needed them the most.

After two rounds of play, the score was tied at 6 sets each.  Temecula Valley had won five of the six singles matches, and the Tartans figured they needed to break through with a victory in singles in order to win the match.

In the third round, Friedman, who had lost his first two matches, faced sophomore Craig Wood and played as if he had nothing left to lose. With his backwards cap and green, red and yellow shoes, Friedman was out on the court and swinging away freely.  Just like professional tennis player John Isner, Friedman dribbled the ball between his legs before his serve. He was fearless.

Wood had difficulty getting his first serve in, and Friedman capitalized on his opponent's weak second serve by stepping up and ripping return shots.  He won the last three games of the set to win, 6-3. 

“I’m pretty happy because I did what I needed to do,” Friedman said. “My coach told me to jump on the second serve and it was good advice.” He added, “Starting out, I was nervous. Towards the end, I felt real confident.”

As the other sets came to a close, there was one final set to be decided. The Tartans were leading 9 sets to 8 and were ahead on games 71-67.  To clinch the victory, St. Margaret’s didn't need freshmen Robinson to win the match, only to win three games.

“I didn’t know what we need to win,” Robinson said. “I didn’t want to. I wanted to play the match out, that’s it.” And that he did, in dramatic fashion.

Temecula Valley sophomore Hayden Hensley was leading Robinson, 3-2, and serving. Hensley had battled the Tartans all day long.  The strong defensive player won long rallies and made very few errors as he beat Sam Friedman 6-4 and Sam’s brother, senior Michael, 6-3. Hensley was certainly capable of running off three straight games and tying the match on games.

But Robinson wasn’t going to let that happen.  He put away a huge overhead smash to go up 40-30. But Hensley kept the pressure on and forced deuce. Then there was a second deuce, then a third, fourth and fifth deuce. On the fifth, Robinson won the first point off a Hayden shot that ended up in the net. Hayden tried a passing shot on the next point but it landed just wide and Robinson had won the decisive third game.

“When I won the third game, I could hear everyone cheer real loud,” Robinson said.  “I figured something was up."

Trager said of Robinson: “He’s a fighter. He never quits. That last game was a perfect example.”

Hensley ended up winning the set, 6-4, but the Tartans had won the war.

St. Margaret's junior Alex Rumadan and freshmen Allister Hurry swept their doubles sets, 6-4, 6-2 and 6-2. Senior Nick Geller and sophomore Andrew Torok won two of three doubles sets, losting their first when they let a 4-1 lead evaporate as their opponents reeled off five straight games to win, 6-4.

“I think [that loss] fueled us to do even better,” Geller said. “Then we won the next set, 6-0, and that fueled us even more.”

Temecula Valley coach Rob Skinner said of St. Margaret’s, “They are very good. They played doubles extremely well. They are aggressive and hit all the shots. It put us on our back foot.”

St. Margaret’s might get another shot at their Academy League rival, Sage Hill, in the finals.  The third-seeded Lightning play second-seeded Cerritos in the other semifinal on Tuesday. The Tartans lost both their meetings to Sage Hill this season, 13-5 and 12-6.

“Sage Hill is the cream of the crop,” Trager said. “They have great singles and great doubles.  They are also coached very well.”

Geller was confident about moving forward. “This is the farthest we’ve been in a long time," he said. "We can win it.”

The Tartans will need to have more players step up in the semifinals if they expect to reach the finals, but a victory over the division's top-seeded team on Thursday was a major step in the right direction.