Menlo School's decades-long winning streak in girls' tennis is ended

The Menlo girls’ tennis team had won 266 straight league matches between the Private School Athletic League, Peninsula Athletic League and the West Bay Athletic League, dating to the 1995 season — until Thursday.

But in this topsy-turvy COVID season, one big question still remains:

Does it count? Some coaches in some sports have been told their results will not be official, but Menlo head coach Bill Shine doesn’t buy into that notion.

“It’s been a crazy year,” Shine said. “Why not (count it)?”

It’s not as if the Knights haven’t lost matches during this time frame. They’ve been beaten in Central Coast Section and Northern California tournaments. Menlo has also taken a few “L’s” at the national Newport tournament. But it hasn’t dropped a match to a league opponent in 26 years.

The last time Menlo lost a league match was to Pinewood during the 1995 season. The Panthers’ coach?

Bill Shine.

Shine is certainly talking as if the streak has been snapped. But instead of being disappointed with the loss, he was amazed by how long the streak lasted.

“I’m looking on the bright side,” Shine said. “I had no idea it would last this long. … It’s one hell of a record. I’ll be dead and gone by the time that’s broken.

“[The streak] is just unbelievable. We came close a lot of times and somehow we just didn’t lose.”

Menlo got wins at No. 1 singles and the top two doubles teams. Addie Ahlstrom rallied from a set down to beat Emily Novikov in a third-set super tiebreaker — 4-6, 6-4, (10-5) to claim the top singles spot. Lindsey Ball teamed with Brynn Brady to win at No. 1 doubles, 6-2, 6-2; while C.C. Golub and Natalie Westermann won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.

The Knights, however, lost in a third-set super tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles, the final match on the court, but Shine placed no blame on that result.

“We win as a team. We lose as a team,” Shine said. “It’s disappointing. But I thought the girls took it pretty well.”

For Shine, wins and losses have different meaning at different times of the season. Yes, the Knights lost. But it was “only” a league match.

“I’m into championships,” Shine said, whose teams have won 25 straight league titles, 10 CCS crowns and seven Nor Cal championships.

“We’re going to play them again and it’s going to be for the championship of the section.”

Despite reports that the CCS girls’ tennis tournament being canceled, Shine said he has been told that there are plans to hold a tournament after all. According to Shine, the girls’ season will wrap up by the end of March. The boys’ season would then run for six weeks. The CCS would then hold tournaments for both boys and girls at the same time in mid-May.

“That’s what CCS told me,” Shine said. “The girls will be off for six weeks (before the tournament).”

The Knights didn’t wait too long to start a new streak as they returned to the courts Friday and posted a sweep of Crystal Springs, losing only five games across four singles matches.

At the end of the day, Shine can live with the winning streak coming to an end because his team put out their best effort and it wasn’t enough.

“It wasn’t like it was fluke or an injury. It was legit. Harker is a very good team,” Shine said. “The thing I’m most proud of is the consistency over the years. … [The players] have bought into the team-first culture. To go a quarter-of-a-century without losing? Kids can get sick, injured, you don’t have a good enough team. A fluke.

“I told the girls, ‘You guys didn’t start it. You just added to it.’ That’s something to be proud of.”