Division tennis tournaments resume Friday in San Jose
SAN JOSE — Ronnie Pollard will play for the Santa Teresa Division singles championship Friday.
The Sobrato senior reached the title match with a victory over Oak Grove’s Jason Montgomery, 6-2, 6-1, Wednesday in the semifinal round of the Santa Teresa Singles/Doubles Tournament at Mount Pleasant High School.
Pollard, the only Bulldog to advance from the semifinals, defeated Anthony Nguyen of Yerba Buena in Friday’s first round, 6-4, 6-0. Sobrato’s Aaron Stutz also was victorious in the first round, as was the Bulldogs’ pair of Tyler Pecsok and Zach Thomas.
Sobrato came into the tournament on the heels of a 6-1 loss to Pioneer.
Live Oak’s top single Jimmy Shedden triumphed in the quarterfinals of the West Valley Division Tournament, and will play a semifinal match this afternoon, also at Mount Pleasant.
Shedden reeped a first-round bye before beating Willow Glen’s Chris Ferro 7-5, 6-4 Wednesday. Ferro played a tactically different game than Shedden was accustomed to, chipping, slicing and lobbying to make Shedden cover the court. Shedden’s persistence would pay off.
The Acorns’ top pair of brothers Derek and Dylan Johnson also reached today’s semifinals. The No. 4-seeded sophomores drew a bye in the first round and beat Vincent Vo and Steven Lam of Andrew Hill, 6-4, 6-0, in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
“They looked a little out of sync in the first set because the have not been playing doubles during league play, but things gelled in the second set — and the result speaks for itself,” Live Oak coach Brad Leach said in a statement.
Also for the Acorns, unseeded junior Ryan Campbell overcame Mount Pleasant’s Chris Le, 6-4, 6-1, in the first round before falling to No. 4 Brandon Snodgrass of Willow Glen. Seniors Shane Herber and Sean Sullivan lost to Mount Pleasant’s Bo McDowell and Sean Stone 0-6, 6-7(4) Friday.
Live Oak moved to 6-3 in league play Wednesday with a 6-1 victory over Del Mar.
Shedden suffered his first division loss of the season, falling 6-2, 3-6, 0-6 to Kevin Chou, but the Johnsons and Campbell countered with singles victories. Dylan Johnson remained undefeated this season with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Stone. Derek Johnson crushed McDowell 6-4, 6-2 and Campbell beat Le Nguyen 6-4, 6-2.
Herber and Sullivan tipped Meeldo Membari and Scott Anderson 6-3, 6-3; Gabriel Fluckiger and Spencer McClellan defeated the Dons’ Ed Ziliniski and Robbie Hambillo 6-4, 6-1; and Live Oak’s Q. Farooqui and Brendan Haughey downed Scott O’Halloran and Kelly Darnell 6-1, 6-0.
