Two CIF championships were nearly won by Point Loma High athletes in current CIF spring playoffs.
First, it was senior Ivan Thamma, who took Coronado senior Ryan Seggerman to the limit in the boys singles tennis championship match last Friday at the Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma.
Thamma fought back repeatedly in a grueling match that left even spectators exhausted when it finally ended after three hours and 20 minutes.
Officially, the score read 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-4), but what it does not say is the first set, won by Thamma, was the first set lost by Seggerman, ranked fourth in the nation, all year.
Thamma led in all three sets by scores of 3-1, 4-2 and 5-1 before Seggerman came back in a marathon that featured three match points in one tiebreaker and three more in the third set before Seggerman won a final tiebreaker.
The two met a week earlier for the Western League title.
A cheering section of 40 students showed up to support Thamma, who will play for UC Davis next year.
Then, on Saturday, the Pointer boys volleyball team fell just short in an “oh-so-close” CIF Div. II title match against Sage Creek of Carlsbad.
The Pointers won the first set 25-21 but the Bobcats came back to win the next three 25-22, 25-23 and 25-22 to claim the title in the finals played at Montgomery High School.
The Pointers entered the playoffs as the top seed in Div. II with the Bobcats No. 2. The Bobcats won Div. III last year and moved up this year. They won their last 17 straight matches this season to finish 28-11 while the Pointers finished 26-6.