Aragon boys' tennis team claws its way to a win over Mountain View in the first round of the Central Coast Section team tournament

But it also means the draw is like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolate — you never know what you’re going to get.

The Aragon team, the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division champion, lucked out and got a home match and hosted a Mountain View squad that finished third in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s El Camino Division — the lower of the two-division league, behind the De Anza Division.

In the end, the most important match of the day may have been one that wasn’t even played. The Spartans had to forfeit at No. 4 singles because their player had to stay back on campus to take an AP test.

That point proved pivotal as four of the remaining six matches all went to third-set super tiebreaks with the Dons winning three of them on their way to a 5-2 victory.

“We’re both top-24 teams in the section,” said Aragon head coach Dave Owdom. “And it played like two top-24 teams.”

With a point in hand before the match even started, Aragon (16-6) looked like it would cruise to the win, winning the first set four of the six matches being played. But Mountain View (13-6) did not go down so easily, as the Spartans battled back to put the match in the balance.

The Dons held a 3-1 lead as the final three matches all went to third-set tiebreaks at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, and No. 2 double, with all three starting within minutes of each other.

But it was Aragon’s No. 3 singles player, Darrin O’Brien who clinched that match-winning fourth point and he had to come from behind to do it.

O’Brien was one of only two Aragon matches that didn’t win the first set as he dropped the opener to Julian Chaw, 4-6. But O’Brien battled back winning the second set 6-2 to set up the race to 10 points in the super tiebreak.

And it was there that O’Brien showed off his all-around game. Not only did he win points at the baseline, but he also won a couple of points at the net and even hitting a booming serve for an ace as he won 10-4 to win his match and clinch the victory for the Dons.

“I gave Darren an award the other day — for Most Inspirational and Mr. Clutch,” Owdom said. “All the singles guys came through (Wednesday).”

With the forfeit at No. 4 singles, Aragon ended up sweeping the four singles spots, with the final three all coming via super tiebreaks. At No. 1 singles, Veraaz Khan won the first set 6-2 against Mountain View’s Michael Shukhman, who rebounded to win the second by the same score. The two were within a point or two of each in the super tiebreak, with Khan leading 7-5 as the players switched sides of the court. Khan won the next point for an 8-5 lead and had a volley winner to give himself match point. He gave one back before closing out Shukhman 6-2, 2-6, 10-6.

At No. 2 singles, Aragon’s Pacome Polly overcame blisters on his foot to outlast Owen Kim, who won the El Camino Division singles championship.

Polly got a break in the first set to win 6-4. In the second, the two stayed on serve, but with Polly leading 5-4, Kim held and then broke Polly’s serve to go up 6-5. He then held serve to win the second set and force the super tiebreak.

Kim kept that momentum to start the tiebreaker, as he jumped out to a 5-1 lead. But Polly stayed in the match. He closed to 8-7 by breaking Kim’s serve with an overhead smash and it was tied at 8-all a point later. Another Polly smash and then a ball into the net secured a 6-4, 5-7, 10-8 win and the Dons’ fifth and final point.

Between those two Aragon wins, the Spartans’ No. 2 doubles tandem of Rohin Gupta and Billy Hong rallied back from a set down to beat Joshua Lee and Alexander Barnett, who won the first set 6-4. The Mountain View pair looked poised to race to the second-set win, opening up a 5-2 lead, only to see Lee and Barnett rally and pull even at 6-all.

Gupta and Hong would win a second-set tiebreaker, 7-4, and then win the match by winning the third-set super tiebreaker, 10-4 for the Spartans’ second point of the day.

While the Dons had a point in hand with the forfeit, it wasn’t an advantage for long as Mountain View quickly picked up its first point at No. 1 doubles, where Ishaan Sharma and Anuj Jain won in straight sets — 6-1, 6-4.

But the Dons’ No. 3 doubles team of Linus Feng and Ryan Newman countered that by winning their match in straight sets as well, 6-3, 6-4 to put Aragon up 2-1 in the team score.

“This is how we’ve done it this year,” Owdom said. “The singles have been clutch and the doubles have come through.”

Up next for the Dons is a road trip to Cupertino for a second-round match against No. 5 Homestead (13-7) at 4 p.m. Friday.