Menlo tennis is back on top in Northern California.
The No. 1-seed Knights (28-1) relied on mixing up their lineups and met an unexpected opponent in the tournament finals, but the end result saw the small powerhouse Atherton private school’s return to dominance at the CIF USTA Northern California Boys’ Tennis Championships. Menlo claimed the Nor Cal title Saturday at Broadstone Sports Club in Folsom with a 6-1 victory over defending champion California-San Ramon.
It marks Menlo’s 12th all-time Nor Cal championship, and the program’s third in four years, after going back-to-back in 2022 and ’23 under former coach Bill Shine. It’s also the first Nor Cal title for head coach Francis Sargeant in his inaugural season.
“For California, they competed well and competed fairly, so it was a fun, clean, competitive, competitive match from them,” Sargeant said.
California entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed, and scored a 5-2 upset in Friday’s semifinals over No. 2 Harker-San Jose. Menlo and Harker went head-t0-head four times this season as rivals in the West Bay Athletic League, and played as recently as the Central Coast Section team championships.
Menlo claimed the CCS title Friday, May 16, with a 6-1 win, improving to 4-0 against the Eagles this season.
Sargeant said he and Menlo entered the Nor Cal tourney expecting a rematch with Harker in the finals.
“Yeah, I was kind of planning on that,” Sargeant said. “We’ve played them and beaten them four times ... and it’s not easy beating one team five times. It doesn’t matter who the team is. ... California High School, credit to them. they came out and played really well ... and beat them in an upset.”
Menlo opened the tournament Friday with a 6-1 win over Lowell-San Francisco despite regular No. 1 single Cooper Han out of the lineup. Han finished playing in the CCS individual doubles tournament Thursday, with he and partner Lucas Ying advancing to the finals before settling for runners-up with a 7-5, 6-2 loss to Saratoga’s Nikhil Srivatsa and Aviva Goldwater. He returned to the lineup Friday afternoon for Menlo’s semifinal win 7-0 over Amador Valley-Pleasanton.
Han swept through No. 1 singles play in the semifinals 6-1, 6-2.
“He’s fine,” Sargeant said. “He’s an exceptional player. He’s played a lot of tennis, so he was good and ready to go.”
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With Han skipping the opener, Sargeant mixed up the lineup. The regular singles all moved up, with Yuanye Ma going from No. 2 to 1 to win 6-0, 6-2; Lucas Huang from 3 to 2 to win 6-1, 6-0; and Surya De Datta from 4 to 3 to sweep 6-0, 6-0. Dylan Kothari made his only appearance of the tournament at No. 4 singles, and advanced to a super tiebreaker before falling 4-6, 6-4, 10-4.
Menlo swept at doubles in the opener, with No. 1s Arki Temsamani and Riley Huang winning 6-0, 6-0; No. 2s Ying and David Lipeles winning 6-0, 6-2; and No. 3s Matthew Franc and Brad Engel winning 6-0, 6-0.
“Every single player on the roster played a match for us (in the tournament),” Sargeant said.
The singles lineup fell back into place when Han returned against Amador Valley. Han defeated Rohan Patil at No. 1 singles; Ma won 6-1, 6-3; Lucas Huang won 6-2, 6-2; and Lipeles won 6-1, 6-0. At doubles, No. 1s De Datta and Kavan Kumar won 6-2, 0-6, 7-5; No. 2s Temsamani and Riley Huang won 6-2, 6-1; and No. 3s Ben Levin and James Park won 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).
“I’m sure there was a heightened sense of urgency,” Sargeant said, “but I think our boys handled it really well ... and, in all honesty, the final that we played, as a team, I think it was one of our better matches, if not our best match that we’ve played.”
Menlo’s two senior team captains, Kumar and Levin, teamed at No. 3 doubles in the finals, sweeping to a 6-3, 6-1 victory. It was the first time the duo teamed up this season. Levin consistently plays at No. 3 doubles, but it was a first for Kumar.
“So, that was also something he recognizes, is him playing at 3 doubles is what’s best for the team,” Sargeant said. “So, kudos to him. ... He goes out, brings energy and just kicks butt.”
Han set the tone in the finals, sweeping Kenn Wijesekara at No. 1 singles 6-0, 6-0. Menlo swept through all four singles matches, with Ma winning 6-1, 6-1; Lucas Huang winning 6-4, 6-1; and De Datta winning 6-3, 6-1. At No. 1 doubles, Temsamani and Riley Huang won 6-1, 6-3. California’s No. 2 doubles Justin Ge and Lio Gular won 1-6, 6-3, 10-7 over Lipeles and Park.
Menlo now advances to the second annual CIF USTA State Championships, set for Friday at Sierra Sport and Racquet Club in Fresno. Start time is scheduled for 10 a.m.
The Knights will face reigning state champion University-Irvine, a back-to-back CIF Southern California champion. Prior to the CIF launching the state finals tournament in 2024, University and Menlo were the respective regional champions three different years in 2013, ’14 and ’23.
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