La Jolla Country Day benefited from a last-minute lineup change to beat La Jolla High School 11-7, claiming the Division 3 CIF boys tennis championship on May 13 at the Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma. “We used a brand new lineup. We took a risk on it, but it really paid off,” said Torreys’ head coach Joslynn Burkett. “The boys really stepped up today.” Burkett chose to stack her top three players in singles competition and the move worked. Seniors Warren Wood and Daniel Faierman swept all six of their sets as the top singles players. Burkett also wisely inserted Jack Murphy into singles play for the first time all season, and the sophomore delivered by winning a crucial set. “We had three lineups we were choosing from and we went for the most go-big or go-home one,” said Country Day senior Connor Jacobs. While LJCD’s singles rotation provided the bulk of the team’s scoring, the Torreys also got much-needed support from its doubles contingency. Jacobs teamed with Amir Ferry to sweep three important points. Meanwhile, the duo of senior Adam Kleinfeld and junior Alex Mirbod supplied Country Day with a morale-boosting tie-breaking victory. “I was hoping our doubles would step up with a few good sets and they did,” Burkett said. While strategy definitely played a key role in the Torreys’ win, determination and a never-say-die attitude also had a big part in the victory. The defending champions used their emotion and belief in themselves to secure a second straight sectional title. “I wanted this so bad, more than almost anything,” Faierman said. “I tried as hard as I ever have in my life. (This is) two years in a row that we’ve all come together and stepped up at the end.” It was Faierman who delivered the initial big blow on the day when he staved off a match point to come back and defeat the Vikings’ Michael Rabinovich early in the first rotation. Just minutes after Faierman earned his team a hard-fought set, Wood staged an improbable comeback against his LJHS opponent Jakob Karnopp. Wood was down 5-2 in the set and nearing defeat when he stormed back to win 16 consecutive points. “I realized I was going for too much. I wasn’t playing good enough to risk it as much, which is normally my playing style,” Wood said. “I started grinding with him backhand for backhand and I got into a groove.” Once Wood forced a tiebreaker, it was just a matter of concentration. That couldn’t have been easy, though, as the fans and the two players’ teammates had shifted their attention to the exciting duel as it unfolded. “From there, I was able to stay focused and win the match,” Wood said. For the second straight season, LJCD came into the CIF finals as underdogs and left as champions. The back-to-back titles are the first for the school in the sport in nearly 50 years. The Vikings were seeking their state-record 43rd (and first since 2008) San Diego section championship.