Aragon gets important win

The match was even more important to the Scots, who came into Thursday already with two losses -- a 4-3 decision to M-A and a shocking 4-3 loss to Woodside. Aragon, meanwhile, has only one loss on its ledger -- to the Bears.

Carlmont got off to a quick start following a straight-set win from Corey Pang at No. 1 singles, but Aragon's Issac Wang quickly followed with a 6-1, 6-1 win of his own at No. 2 singles. The Dons earned the next two points that came off the courts -- a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles by Rahul Joshi and a victory at No. 2 doubles, a 6-3, 6-2 win by Mathew Fowler and Alex Ilyin -- giving the Dons a 3-1 lead in the team score.

Carlmont got closer with a win at No. 3 doubles from Alex Yang and Calvin Tzeng, 6-3, 6-4, but the Dons' win at No. 1 doubles from Quentin Bellon and Landers Ngirchemat gave the Dons the team win. Jonathon Lui put the exclamation point on a 5-2 Dons' win with his three-set win at No. 4 singles.

"They know they want to stay in second place right now," said Aragon coach Dave Owdom. "The amazing thing about these guys is their mental toughness."

That was especially on display in the No. 1 doubles match, where Aragon's Bellon and Ngirchemat rallied from losing 6-0 in the first set to pull out the win over Carlmont's Ben Knoot and Kevin Hutchaleelaha. The Aragon duo won the second set 7-5 and needed a third-set tiebreaker to pull out the win, 7-3.

"Last year, Carlmont beat us. We wanted to get revenge," Bellon said. "We didn't play well (in that first set). ... I guess we felt the pressure. But we started to hit better. Just get the ball in play. Play aggressive and don't play scared."

Aragon had a chance to put away the match earlier, with Ngirchemat serving for the win at 5-4. The Dons fell behind 15-40, but a pair of big serves by Ngirchemat sent the game to deuce. Ngirchemat appeared to secure the win with a booming serve into the corner for an ace. Knoot appeared headed to the net for the post-match handshake but, his partner, Hutchaleelaha, signaled the serve out. To his credit, Hutchaleelaha made his call right away. The call stood and Ngirchemat went on to be broken to tie the set at 5. Knoot and Hutchaleelaha went on to take the next game and hold a 6-5 lead, but Bellon held serve to force the tiebreaker.

"When we lost that point, I wanted to get back at them," Ngirchemat said.

In the tiebreaker, Aragon jumped out to a 5-2 lead and eventually built a 6-3 advantage in the race to seven points. Ngirchemat again served on match point and this time he would not be denied. As he smoked an ace past Carlmont to clinch the match and give the Dons the win, Ngirchemat facetiously asked, "Was that in?"

"The point we won (to win the match) was the exact same shot -- into the corner," Ngirchemat said.

While the No. 1 doubles match may have been the most exciting, the No. 1 singles match featured two of the best players in the PAL and Carlmont's Pang proved there is a pretty big gap between him and the rest of the league. Aragon's Devon Hughes, arguably one of the top four players in the league, didn't stand much of a chance against Pang, taking just one game off him and lost 6-0, 6-1.

"I just try to make the best of it," Hughes said. "It's fun to come out and play someone that great. I just give it my best and (try to) learn from it. ... (But) it sucks to lose."

What he learned is that Pang just appears to get better and better as the years progress. Pang stood about 5-7, 5-8 as a freshman. Now he's 6-6 and as he has grown, so has his game. This year, he's working on his net game. So far, the results have been pretty good.

"I'm trying to work on getting to the net a little quicker," Pang said, who is also the defending PAL singles champion. "I work on things in practice and try to bring it to my matches. I'm trying to shorten up the points."