Daily Journal Athletes of the Week: Burlingame’s Jake Druskin and Kieran Kilgo

“The problem is, I can’t see what’s going on over there,” Stone said.

Fortunately for Stone, the “We got this!” attitude of Druskin and Kilgo doesn’t require much scrutiny.

The senior boys’ tennis No. 1 doubles team has been named Daily Journal Athletes of the Week after finishing off a perfect run against Peninsula Athletic League opponents with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Carlmont last Friday in the PAL/Central Coast Section Team Qualifying Tournament at Burlingame.

Druskin and Kilgo posted a 14-0 record against PAL opponents this season, including a 12-0 mark through regular-season dual match play. Teaming the pair seemed like a recipe for success entering the season. They’d first played as doubles partners as sophomores, then played together all last season at No. 2 doubles.

“I didn’t think we’d ever run the table,” Druskin said. “I do think we had a chance to dominate some people because we’re the elder statesmen ... but here we are.”

Much like a pitcher throwing a no-hitter in baseball, Druskin and Kilgo weren’t aware they were dominating for most of the season. Then came the last two weeks of the PAL Bay Division slate, and back-to-back matchups against the two other PAL/CCS Team Qualifying Tournament qualifiers, Menlo-Atherton and Carlmont.

“Once we got through the two harder matchups on the schedule, it was like: ‘Holy crap! We only have one more!’” Druskin said.

It was easy for the duo to lose track of time during the regular season with things going so smoothly. Druskin and Kilgo dropped just one sets in dual-meet play this season, an opening sets in their April 7 matchup with PAL Bay team champion Aragon — with the Burlingame tandem rallying back for 3-6, 6-2, 10-5 win over Max Gan and Adam Beg.

Otherwise, Druskin and Kilgo were racing through Bay Division matches so quickly, they’d be the first doubles team to finish a vast majority of the time.

“They were right there at the start of the season,” Stone said. “It took them maybe a little bit of time to gel together, but the year they had together ... they were probably 90% there on day one. And then they got better and better and better.”

The pace of play is noteworthy during home matches as the new portable classrooms not only landed on top of one of the previous four courts in the doubles cage, they also protrude on a second court, rendering it unusable for official play. Therefore, Burlingame can only play two doubles matches at a time, leaving the No. 3 doubles teams waiting until one of the top two doubles matches finish before they get on the court.

Most of the time, the No. 3 doubles teams would start huddling around the No. 1 doubles court when it was obvious Druskin and Kilgo were going to be first to finish, usually thanks to a breezy two-set victory.

“It’s a good sign,” Kilgo said. “We wait to see if they’re around our court. ... Otherwise, we don’t pay too much attention. We try to concentrate on our game.”

Kilgo describes he and his partner’s PAL dominance as a product of chemistry and synergy.

“I think because we’ve been friends for so long, it’s been able to translate on and off the court,” Kilgo said.

While Druskin and Kilgo only played one PAL three-setter all year, they’ve played a number of tiebreaker sets. The synergy was on full display April 16 in a 7-6, 6-3 win over Menlo-Atherton, a match during which Druskin admittedly had trouble shaking off the cobwebs in the opening set.

“He saved the day because I don’t think I started playing until we got to a first-set tiebreaker,” Druskin said.

Kilgo intuitively stepped up his game, sensing how to work through the gaps of Druskin’s slow start.

“Even with that, I knew where he was going,” Kilgo said.

Since then, the two have been cruising, including a 6-1, 6-0 win over Hillsdale last Thursday in the opening round of the PAL/CCS Team Qualifying Tournament. With the two playoff wins over Hillsdale and Carlmont, Druskin and Kilgo improved to 14-0 against PAL opponents.

“I don’t over-coach them,” Stone said. “They don’t need it. And it’s obvious they don’t need it because they’re constantly, when I go out, it’s: ‘We’ve got this!’”

“I think our record speaks for us,” Druskin said, “that we’ve played pretty well in match play.”