It’s hard to imagine a team going through more ups and downs
during a 24-hour period than Live Oak endured.
It’s hard to imagine a team going through more ups and downs during a 24-hour period than Live Oak endured.
While Trevor Watson in singles and Aaron Melgar and Ryan Campbell in doubles were playing their way into the Blossom Valley Athletic League tournament, the Acorns found out they were defaulted out of the West Valley Division championship match.
Live Oak was to meet Del Mar for the league title Monday, but Dons’ coaches Jeremy and Joseph Heckley pointed out that the Acorns had broken one of the league rules and Del Mar was awarded the title.
Rules stipulate that when you change the order of your singles players or doubles team, there is a best-of-three match to determine the result so teams don’t try and stack their lineup. When Eric Matsumoto and Watson met in their challenge match, it was an eight-game pro set.
“My mistake,” Live Oak coach Jennifer Yoder said. “I feel horrible about it. I didn’t think it would cost us the league title. This is high school tennis. It should be about the boys. But they (Heckleys) found we broke a rule. I don’t think it would have made a difference in the match. But that’s the way it is.”
The teams had split 5-2 decisions during the regular season and Yoder said that both teams were looking forward to the tie-breaking match. It will not occur and Del Mar goes to the Central Coast Section championships while the best the Acorns (13-1) can hope for is a wild-card invitation.
The news was better during the West Valley Division competition.
Watson beat Gabriel Zuniga of Overfelt in a three-set semifinal match to advance to the final against Steven Roberts. The Del Mar player won 6-0, 6-1. The top three in singles advance.
It was the same in doubles were Melgar and Campbell won their semifinal match to one Dons’ team and then lost to another in the final in a third-set tiebreaker. The top two in doubles advance.
“It was the best high school doubles match I have seen all season,” Yoder said of the final match. “It was competitive, well-played points. The kids looked like they were having fun, enjoying the moment of being in the finals.”
The BVAL Tournament is May 9 at Mt. Pleasant. Meanwhile, the Acorns will scrimmage Carmel at 3:15pm today at Live Oak.
