The Point Loma High School (PLHS) Pointers boys tennis team (19-2) captured its first CIF tennis championship since 1966 on Friday with a victory over Westview High School at the Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma.
The win handed the Division II title to a hungry Pointers team.
“The boys did very well,” said head tennis coach Chris Magers, a Sonoma state alum. “They had a great year and played well when it counted.”
Magers’ team was able to win the title in just his first year as the boys walk-on coach.
“I coached the girls this year and they did well, getting to the semi-finals,” he said.
The boys Pointers team defeated Westview in a tie-breaker, 72-69, after splitting the sets at 9 each. Last season, the 2007 team finished the regular season undefeated at 18-0 and won in the first round of the CIF post-season before being eliminated by Westview in a tie-breaker 76-67 in the semi-final round.
The scoring for tennis is based on three points per singles match and doubles teams.
Each team has three singles players and three doubles teams with a maximum of 18 points awarded. If the match is tied at 9, the individual games are added up to declare a winner.
Sophomore Zach Leslie led the way for the Pointers against Westview, sweeping his match 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0.
“He’ll probably be the No. 1 seed for individuals in San Diego,” Magers said.
The No. 2 and No. 3 singles’ players are Trevor Donovan and Kishan Patel, respectively.
The No. 1 doubles’ team of Axel Cramer and Nicholas Zepf also swept their Westview counterparts.
The No. 2 doubles’ team is Ryan Harris and Nathaniel Johnson and the No. 3 team is Jack Newman and Stephen Peters.
The other players on the roster are John and Kevin Davies, Alec Deryckere, Stephen DeVito, Nathan Kocivar and Danny Stricker.
The Pointers’ tennis championship is the school’s first CIF title among any of its sports programs since 1991, when the football team won.
“This win puts Point Loma tennis back on the map,” Magers said. “With all but one player returning next year, we will be making a run at back-to-back titles.”
Peters will be graduating this year and the squad may also lose Zepf because he is an exchange student who may be returning to his home country.