Menlo seniors Cooper Han, left, and Lucas Ying.
Cooper Han, the No. 1 boys’ tennis player on the Central Coast Section championship Menlo School team, made an interesting decision heading into the CCS individual tournament. He didn’t want to play singles, nor did he want to play with any of the school’s top-seeded doubles players.
Instead, Han chose to play doubles with someone who hadn’t even cracked Menlo’s lineup regularly this season, his best friend Lucas Ying.
“He’s one of my best friends at school,” Han said. “I could have played with the second best player on our team, but I decided to play with my best friend to have a good time.”
Han’s decision turned out to be bad news for Menlo’s second best player, Yuanye Ma, who ultimately paired with his regular doubles partner Ben Levin. Ma and Levin entered Wednesday’s CCS individual doubles tournament at Imperial Courts Tennis Club in Aptos as the No. 1 seed, but they didn’t make it out of the quarterfinals after running into Han and Ying.
The unseeded team of Han and Ying cruised through the first round against Lynbrook 6-1, 6-2, then rode the momentum to a win in the all-Menlo quarterfinal against Ma and Levin 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.
“Lucas actually has been working hard these last couple weeks,” Han said. “He’s been training a lot, staying after practice. He played a lot better the second time.”
The learning curve has been crucial, as Han and Ying lost in straight sets to Ma and Levin in the West Bay Athletic League tournament. Han said he was overly aggressive in that WBAL match, poaching balls regularly from his partner.
This time, Han backed off.
“I didn’t get past line much because I was letting him hit more,” Han said. “And, yeah, it was a lot better.”
With the quarterfinal showdown going to a super tiebreaker, Han and Ying found themselves behind in the early going. They trailed 2-0, 4-2, and as late as 7-5. The besties came out of the last break with a head of steam, though, and rallied for five straight points to win the match.
Not that the drama ruled the day. Just the opposite, as all four Menlo teammates embraced the chance to go head-to-head on the CCS stage.
“It was kind of like half jokes just because we’re all teammates, but we were all getting really loud,” Han said. “But it was a really fun match, for sure.”
Han said the difference was the deuce points.
“We were pretty clutch and we won almost all of those,” Han said.
CCS doubles play concludes Thursday with two rounds of play. The semifinals start at 1 p.m.
Han and Ying will face the No. 4-seed St. Ignatius team of Devin Stupin and Marco Magnano. On the other side of the bracket, the No. 3-seed Los Altos duo of Naveen Mukherjee and Cyrus Ghaffari will face No. 2-seed Saratoga.
“I’ve just got to do my part and just keep Lucas positive,” Han said. “I think bringing good energy is important, and just not getting down on ourselves. ... I think if we just bring that tomorrow then we have a good shot.”
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