M-A rules PAL tourney

Still, memories were fresh from last year when that didn’t translate to the PAL individual tournament.

“I think it was more we just wanted redemption,” said Zach Ostrow, one half of M-A’s No. 1-seeded doubles team. “And we just wanted to finish it off like we couldn’t last year.”

Ostrow and his sophomore doubles partner Maksim Lukic indeed redeemed last year’s semifinal loss to Woodside, taking the 2019 PAL doubles championship with a 6-0, 6-4 win over the No. 2 seed, Carlmont’s Daniel Arakaki and Chris Cho Thursday afternoon at Burlingame High School.

There was far less drama as to what school would win the PAL singles title as the featured court saw two M-A standouts going head to head. No. 1-seed Tim Berthier rallied past teammate Jake Andrew, the No. 3 seed, 6-1, 6-3.

“There’s a lot of maroon and gold in the finals, which we like,” M-A co-coach Carlos Aguilar said.

Berthier enjoyed some redemption in his own right. The senior was playing in his fourth PAL tournament, and already had a title to his credit, albeit as a doubles player, which he won as a freshman in 2016. He has played in the singles tournament since his sophomore year, finishing in fourth place in 2017 before taking second place last season, falling to Carlmont’s Thomas Reznik in the finals.

“That was quite a match,” Berthier said.

Berthier recalled the contentious match between he and his now-graduated Carlmont rival. But this time around, even against his teammate, Berthier didn’t back down from a mean game face. He and Andrew didn’t say a word to one another during breaks, despite standing right next to one another.

You wouldn’t know it from their on-court demeanor the two of them are actually very close friends. They even take the same calculus class, and were both relieved Thursday, each confident they’d aced a test earlier in the day.

“Killed it,” Berthier said. “That’s why I played so loose today.”

And while the 6-1, 6-3 final might not seem like it, Berthier also pulled off a pretty nice comeback. After cruising through the first set, he got tested in the second when Andrew won the first three games. Berthier responded by rattling off six straight wins though to close out the title, winning when he caught a lazy volley and knocked it down with an overhand smash.

“Jake did not play poorly, although he will not agree,” Aguilar said. “But Timmy was in the zone. Let’s just say he will definitely be ready for CCS.”

Andrew, in fact, did not agree.

“Today was just not my day,” Andrew said. “He was playing out of his mind and I was not at my best, which is not good.”

By virtue of advancing to the championship round, both Berthier and Andrew advance to the Central Coast Section individual tournament, opening Tuesday, May 14 at Imperial Courts Tennis Club in Aptos.

Third- and fourth-place finishers are eligible for at-large bids to the CCS tournament. The field of 16 qualifiers in each tourney will be announced Sunday.

M-A also prevailed the third-place match for PAL doubles, with Luke Jensen and Griffin Voss winning 6-4, 6-2 over Aragon’s Ilan Leventhal and Richard Tang. In the singles’ third-place match, Carlmont’s Milad Shafaie defeated Aragon’s Daniel Li 6-2, 6-2.

The redemption storyline will continue into the CCS tournament for M-A’s Lukic and Ostrow. The two paired in the tournament last year but, after a first-round win, were forced to retire in the second round due to injury, as Lukic was dealing with lower-back issues.

Lukic said he’s feeling 100% this year, as evidenced by his and Ostrow’s three wins in the PAL tournament, all in straight sets.

“I wanted to start strong and end strong,” Lukic said. “I feel much better than last year.”