Piedmont High’s boys’ tennis team’s season came to an end on Tuesday, May 13, losing 5-2 to Marin Academy at the College of Marin. The Highlanders entered as the underdog with the No. 9 seed while Marin Academy was No. 8.
“It was a great season. The boys played a lot of tennis, improved, and had much fun,” coach Jim Landes said.
The Highlanders defeated Marin Academy by the same score back on Tuesday, April 22. Despite the result, last Tuesday’s match could have swung in the opposite direction with No. 2 doubles of Luca LaForte and Kasper Jansson losing in an extra third set, and No. 3 doubles Ben Davis and Joey Assalian losing 7-5, 7-5 affair.
“We defeated Marin Academy a few weeks earlier. The match was close, especially at second doubles which went to 10-8 in the third set breaker and third doubles losing a close match,” Landes said.
Looking ahead, Piedmont will watch several seniors depart, including Nick King, Will Tenney, Gianluca Bini, Torsten Olsen, Ryan Ehtashami, and Jansson. The Highlanders could bring back a young team that’s headlined by two-time league champion Lucas Smolko. Several freshmen earned varsity starts this season, including LaForte, Davis, Assalian, Emilio Misra, and Robert Piniella.
Match Recap
At singles, Smolko locked down the No. 1 spot, defeating Marin Academy’s top starter Will Young. In the middle of a close first-set deadlocked in a 5-5 score, Young withdrew from the match due to an injury.
Marin Academy won the other three singles matches. Welch lost 6-0, 6-4 at No. 2, King fell 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3, and Misra lost 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4.
At doubles, Tenney and Bini reeled in Piedmont’s only win of the day at the No. 1 spot. They defeated Marin Academy’s Luke Aspatore and Amrik Chatha in a very close three sets, each set within two games, 6-7 (7-5), 7-5, 10-8.
At No. 2, LaForte and Davis lost in three sets in a similar match to the top spot, winning the first set in a tiebreaker, going an extra game in the second set, and closing the third set down by two games, 6-7 (7-3), 7-5, 10-8. Assalian and Davis lost 7-5, 7-5 at No. 3.