Mills wins last match of day to beat M-A

That exact scenario unfolded on Thursday when Chang defeated Scott Choe 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 at No. 3 singles, propelling Mills to a 4-3 win over visiting Menlo-Atherton in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division regular-season finale for both teams.

The Vikings (11-8 overall, 10-4) clinched the No. 2 seed in the PAL tournament and hosts the No. 3 Bears (8-6) today at 3 p.m. in the team playoffs. Top-seed Aragon plays No. 4 Half Moon Bay in the other semifinal, with the winners of both matches playing on Monday. The PAL singles and doubles tournament starts on Wednesday at Menlo School and Menlo-Atherton.

Menlo-Atherton went up 2-0 after just 35 minutes of play when its top two singles players, Nial Brash and Peter Aguilar, won decisively. Brash, the league's top player and a player to watch for in the upcoming Central Coast Section championships, defeated Bernard Wang, 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles.

Aguilar routed Trevor Leung, 6-0, 6-0 at two. The Vikings struck back with wins at No. 4 singles and the top two doubles spots.

Jesse Peña had no trouble in dispatching Tommy Bellumori, 6-1, 6-1 at four, while Wilson Chan and Ravi Yob cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory at one doubles. Edward Wang and Robby Siu powered past Brian Wong and Mark Donnig, 6-2, 6-2 at the two spot before M-A's No. 3 doubles team of Evan Kelso and Josh Citron defeated Richard Chien and Eric Strom, 6-2, 6-4, tying the team score at 3.

That set up the final match at No. 3 singles, but little drama ensued. Chang, after winning the first set tiebreaker, rolled to a 6-1 second set win. The lefty used a solid serve, well-placed groundstrokes and his usual strong dose of determination to pull away.

"When I'm in the last match, it actually helps me because there are more people watching and it might get my opponent nervous," Chang said. "I just concentrate on playing my game and wait so I can hit that one really big shot."

The genius of Chang plays out on the tennis court as well as off it. Between the white lines, the Mills High senior never beats himself, playing a solid, consistent game that won't ever be confused with flashy but will always keep him in a match.

He knows his limits and perseveres with mental toughness and sound decision-making. Off the court, Chang is a mastermind, compiling a 4.1 g.p.a. and 1,480 on his SATs. Leung says on a team filled with intelligent guys, Chang "is simply the smartest."

He will major in biophysics at the prestigious John Hopkins University in Baltimore. Chang, who does research for the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, wrote a paper on electrons and ions and had it published nationally.

The moral of the story? Unlike a lot of student-athletes, Chang carries his book smarts onto the playing field, making for a tremendous combination.

Selig, whose teams have made the CCS playoffs in each of his 10 years at the school, is facing more of an uphill climb this season. Mills doesn't have the superior record to warrant an at-large berth, so the Vikings probably will have to beat M-A and Aragon to gain the PAL's second automatic berth into the postseason. Regular season champion Menlo is already in.

"I'm glad we won so we can host (a playoff match) today," Selig said. "It's going to be tough. M-A was missing some guys so they're going to be tougher. We've made CCS for 10 straight years and we'll be there again after next week."