Burlingame tennis finally gets past M-A

The Bears, the No. 1 seed in the PAL CCS play-in team tournament, had beaten second-seeded Burlingame 5-2 twice during the regular season —  including as recently as Tuesday, which gave M-A the top seed in the tournament.

But Tuesday’s match score could easily been 5-2 in the Panthers’ favor, if not for M-A winning three, third-set super tiebreakers.

Despite that disappointing loss, Burlingame head coach Doug Stone believed his team was primed for one more shot at the Bears.

“After Tuesday, they knew that they had it in them (to beat M-A),” Stone said. “Even though we lost, they always believed they could win this match. The way they lost that match Tuesday built their confidence.”

The Panthers took that confidence to Atherton Thursday and used it to fuel first-set wins in the first five matches which propelled the Panthers to an emphatic 6-1 win to punch their ticket to the CCS tournament in two weeks.

“It was a different start for us today,” Stone said. “We talked about that: how do we get off to faster starts?”

Kaden Lam, a freshman playing at No. 1 singles for the Panthers, and No. 2 singles player Noah Chiang set the tone early as they each broke their opponents’ serves in the opening games of their matches.

While M-A’s Aid Kudaravalli and Cole Aylaian broke right back, the message had been sent — things would be different the third time around.

“[Burlingame] had the edge in eagerness,” said M-A head coach Tom Sorenson. “If we could have grabbed an early lead … maybe we dampen some of that enthusiasm.”

Burlingame posted the first win of the day at No. 2 doubles, where Nick Moshkovoy and Spencer Phonsombat posted a 6-3, 6-2 decision. The M-A tandem of Liam Baker and Thomas Greenleaf led 2-1 in the first set, but Moshkovoy and Phonsombat won four of the next five games to take the set. In the second, the Panther pair got an early break to go up 3-2 and then won the next three games to give Burlingame its first team point.

But M-A followed soon after with what would be its only team point of the match. The Bears’ No. 3 doubles team of Yoonwon Bae and Max Weiss rallied from a set down to pull out the win. After dropping the first set 6-3, Bae and Weiss rebounded to blitz Burlingame in the second set, winning 6-1 to send it to a third-set, super tiebreaker, where Bae and Weiss, once again, rallied for the win.

They were facing a match point, down 9-8 in the race to 10 points, but Bae and Weiss would win three points in row to win the tiebreaker 11-9 and tie the team match at 1-all.

It was all Burlingame after that, however. Caleb Chou, playing at No. 4 singles, found himself down 4-1 in the first set. But he came storming back for a 6-4 win and then gave the Panthers their second point with a 6-2 decision the second.

Chiang, playing at No. 2 singles, would go on to win the first set 6-3 before putting his opponent away, 6-1, in the second.

And when the Panthers had the opportunity to put the Bears away, they didn’t wait as the No. 1 doubles team of Kieran Kilgo and Jake Druskin gave Burlingame the match-clinching fourth point.

But it wasn’t easy. The Burlingame pair looked on their way to easy first set win, up 5-2. But the M-A tandem of Rowan Hanley and Calvin Linnert came roaring back, winning four games in a row to go up 6-5.

But Kilgo and Druskin didn’t panic. They broke serve to tie the set at 6-all and send it to a tiebreak, where they prevailed 7-5. In the second set, Hanley and Tinnert led 3-2, but Burlingame held serve and then broke the Bears’ serve to take a 4-3 lead. Kilgo and Druskin would go on to win four straight games to win the set and match, 6-3.

Alexander Bozinovic rallied from a set down to win the No. 3 singles match in a third-set, super tiebreaker 4-6, 6-4, 10-6. Lam then capped the Panthers’ victory by winning 7-5, 6-4 at No. 1 singles.

“I don’t think this (Burlingame) team thought about this match in terms of CCS,” Stone said. “This was more about coming out and beating M-A.

“This was validation.”