Having pulled off a 6-0 sweep in the latter half of their regular season matches, boys’ tennis (10-2) earned their spot in the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) Team and Individual Qualifying Tournaments as well as the CCS Team Tournament from Thursday, April 23 to Friday, May 8. The Panthers saw successes in each tournament, adding to the team’s accomplishments for the season.

Panthers win PAL Team Tournament, earn CCS playoffs spot

On Wednesday, April 22, the day before the PAL Team Tournament, the Panthers won their final regular-season match 6-1 against Woodside High School, securing a second-place finish in the PAL Bay Division. According to head coach Doug Stone, the team used the momentum from their success in the back half of the season as motivation going into the PAL Team Tournament.

The Panthers were the No. 1 seed in the PAL Bay Division and in the tournament, and hosted Hillsdale High School, the No. 1 seed in the PAL Ocean Division, at home on Thursday, April 23, for their first-round matchup. The Panthers swept the Knights 7-0 and advanced to the second and final round of the tournament on Friday, April 24, against Carlmont High School, the No. 2-seeded team in the PAL Bay Division.

The Panthers picked up wins from No. 3 singles to No. 3 doubles, which Stone said showcased the strength and depth of the team.

No. 1 singles player sophomore Kaden Lam faced off against Carlmont’s No. 1 singles player sophomore Lucas Rowe, and while the match ultimately ended in Rowe’s victory, Lam gave himself credit for taking the first set from Rowe.

“Second [match] was going to be a little tougher, since the guy’s the number one player in the league, so [I] went into that match kind of playing to my best ability, see how I could play and match up against him,” Lam said. “And then I actually ended up taking off a set from him. And I guess he hadn’t lost a set the whole year. So that’s probably one of the biggest accomplishments I’ve had this season.”

The Panthers defeated the Scots 5-2, solidifying their status as back-to-back PAL Team Tournament champions and securing an automatic berth into the CCS Team Tournament.

The PAL Individual Tournament is the last stop before CCS for the Panthers. The finalists in both the singles and doubles divisions get an automatic bid to CCS, making the stakes high for all involved.

This year, the Panthers sent Kaden Lam, Alex Bozinovic, and Collin Phonsombat for the singles division. And in the doubles, they sent Jake Druskin and Kieran Kilgo, Aaron Lo and Tyler Diddy, as well as Noah Chiang and Caleb Chou. Going into the PAL Individual Tournament from Tuesday, April 28, to Thursday, April 30, the Panthers would find themselves split from one another for the first time this season.

No. 1 doubles pair seniors Jake Druskin and Kieran Kilgo, who had been named San Mateo Daily Journal Athletes of the Week that same week, found themselves playing in a match for third place against their Burlingame teammates, the No. 2 doubles team of freshman Aaron Lo and sophomore Tyler Diddy, on April 30. Lo and Diddy, initially seeded sixth in the doubles bracket, scraped out a win against their older teammates, achieving third place in the individual tournament.

“The first game went really well. We were playing the Mills [No. 1] team and came out on top, giving us a lot of confidence, which was great. Next round we played Aragon [No. 1], and we came out on top after a great, grueling match,” Diddy said. “We were playing M-A for the semifinals and went in with a lot of confidence, but kind of fell short towards the end.”

Both Druskin and Diddy said the third-place match against one another was relatively fun and low-pressure.

“We’d kind of played against each other all year in practice. For me, it was kind of a fun match. We weren’t trying to compete for first place or edge our way into second place. We were like, ‘look, it’s a third or fourth place game, we may as well have a little bit of fun and not get hurt because we have to play next week,’” Druskin said.

Diddy and Lo came out on top with a 6-3, 7-5 victory, securing a third-place finish for themselves, while Kilgo and Druskin ended up in fourth. Although none of the team qualified for the CCS Individual Tournament, they all would ultimately go to the CCS Team Tournament.

“It was intense. It was fun to watch them, because it looked like both of them, both the teams, were searching to get that win, and both of them were fighting pretty hard, and it was a pretty competitive match,” Lam said. “It didn’t look like they were friends out there, [they] looked like they were opponents, so I think they played it the right way. They played it with class.”

Less than a week after the PAL Individual Tournament ended, the Panthers competed in the CCS Team Tournament on Wednesday, May 6, and Friday, May 8.

The Panthers’ first-round matchup was against Leigh High School on May 6 at San Mateo High School. The Panthers won the match 4-3, with wins from all three doubles pairs and No. 4 singles player sophomore Collin Phonsombat.

“That was probably one of the best matches I’ve ever actually seen,” Stone said. “It was just really tight throughout the entire match. We were down, we came back, and again we won that match from four singles, Collin Phonsombat, through three doubles, and I give a lot of credit to our number three doubles team.”

That No. 3 doubles team, senior Darren Wagner and junior Gregory Kozakov, “came in clutch,” according to Lam. Wagner and Kozakov battled it out with their opposing duo, pulling off a three-set multi-tiebreaker victory.

“I think [No. 3 doubles] came in clutch. They were down a set, and in the second set tiebreak, and they ended up taking that tiebreak[er] 7-1, and then they played in the third set, 10-point tiebreak. And I think originally they were down, but they ended up coming back to win that match, and that clinched us the win,” Lam said.

Stone also highlighted Diddy and Lo, who scored the final point in the match against Leigh to give the Panthers the overall win and let them advance further in the tournament.

“And then Tyler Diddy and Aaron Lo got us the final point in that match, and the excitement when Tyler ripped the forehand and the Leigh guy at the net, hit it, hit it wide, and the excitement from the team was just unbelievable to win that match, because we were pretty much down for the majority of the match until we weren’t, and then we won,” Stone said.

Lam said the match against Leigh was one of his favorite moments of the season.

“Honestly, it probably would have been that Leigh match, because I think that we were pretty close to losing that match, and getting knocked out of the CCS tournament,” Lam said. “So it was fun to watch the clinch by [No. 3 doubles], and it was satisfying to just kind of hang out with the guys after the match, and witness everything happen.”

On Friday, May 8, Burlingame faced off against Sacred Heart Preparatory, which was seeded sixth in the tournament. The Panthers lost to the Gators 5-2.

Burlingame’s two wins came from the No. 3 doubles team of Wagner and Kozakov, as well as No. 3 singles player, senior Alex Bozinovic. Although the Gators had already won the overall match, Bozinovic kept playing hard until the match was over. Bozinovic was down in the first set, won the second set, and won the third set in a tiebreaker that included winning nine points in a row.

“[It was] an amazing match for him, and it was just a great way to finish the season, because even though they had won the overall match, both teams were watching that match,” Stone said. “…The level of intensity was very very high, and when Alexander Bozinovic won that match it really felt like it put an exclamation point on a great season for Burlingame.”

After a strong season, even with a loss in the second round of the CCS team tournament, ending their playoff run, they saw the ending as a positive one.

“It was my last match,” Druskin said, “But honestly, I didn’t feel too sad about it. Sacred Heart is a strong team, and I think we played pretty well. We definitely could’ve played better and maybe could have changed the outcome, but it was a well-fought match, and that was the actual fun of it.”

Druskin said he has fond memories of this season, even if it wasn’t exactly what he imagined it to be.

“I feel like I accomplished all the goals I wanted to, except maybe one, but I had a lot of fun. We were successful, we did what we needed to, and I think it was actually a very good season,” Druskin said.

Stone credited assistant coach Jed Moffitt for being crucial in helping arrange and maneuver lineups throughout the season, but especially during the second half.

“He has a great rapport with the players, he always makes it fun,” Stone said. “He’s always out here for all the right reasons, but he was instrumental in working through the lineup changes and being part of that and putting together the best lineup to help us win.”

While Druskin and other seniors move on to their next chapter, Diddy and other underclassmen have more tennis to look forward to.

“I’m looking forward to playing with the teammates that I made friends with this year. I’m definitely going to miss the seniors,” Diddy said. “We’re going to have our challenges next year, but nothing we can’t overcome.”

Stone said the team’s camaraderie and friendship have been evident throughout the season. He also said he hopes players will take the lessons they’ve learned from the sport and carry them into their own lives.

“It has a way of connecting us in ways that I believe other sports don’t,” Stone said. “It’s an individual sport that we do a really, really good job of making a team sport out of, and hopefully a lot of the lessons learned are not just lessons learned on the tennis court, it’s lessons learned about how to be good teammates, how to compete, and how to carry that forward into wherever they go in their lives.”