Menlo boys' tennis closes out perfect regular season

It was in 2015 the last time Menlo reigned supreme not only in CCS — winning the program’s seventh straight CCS championship, and 14th all-time — but also marched to a CIF Northern California title.

“They’re always excited,” Menlo head coach Bill Shine said. “[Going] 22-0 is a really good feat, especially with the schedule and the tournaments we play. They were pleased but they know they want to do more. They’re still thinking about last year. They want to get the CCS and Nor Cal titles back.”

Menlo senior Bo Leschly capped a perfect season Thursday as well, as the No. 3 single won 6-1, 6-4 over Ed Jung. Leschly has played predominantly singles, being seeded as high as No. 1, but mostly playing at No. 4. He has also played several doubles matches. Every time he’s walked off the court a victor.

“He has really improved the last two years,” Shine said. “He made a huge difference.”

Leschly was a freshman on the 2015 CCS and Nor Cal championship team. He admittedly wasn’t as serious about tennis as he could have been that season. He has been playing the sport since he was 4. But it wasn’t until last summer, playing several USTA events and taking on his busiest offseason schedule ever, that Leschly really put really put himself on the map.

“As a freshman I wasn’t particularly committed to tennis,” Leschly said. “But I’ve trained hard, especially this last offseason. I really trained hard over the summer. I think that’s when my game really improved.”

Surprising even himself as the season progressed, Leschly said he knew Menlo was in store for another special season toward the end of March when the team returned home from the Newport Beach National Invitational with the championship from the national tournament. Leschly rolled to eight wins in the tourney, four at singles and four at doubles.

“Down at Newport, I was very pleased with the result,” Leschly said. “I did not see that happening at all.”

Thursday’s win over Leland was somewhat incidental. The previous day, at home against Woodside Priory, the Knights clinched the WBAL regular-season title. But Leland put some pressure at top-tier singles, taking both the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches to three sets and even earning its lone win over Menlo on the day at No. 2 singles.

Menlo No. 1 Sid Chari held off Mukund Madabhushi 4-6, 6-2 (8-6); Menlo No. 2 Andrei Volgin lost 6-4, 4-6 (10-8); Menlo No. 4 John Kim won 6-2, 6-0; Menlo No. 1 doubles Clark Safran and Brandon Aprill won 6-0, 6-4; Menlo No. 2 doubles David Quezada and Ian Collins won 5-7, 6-2, 8-6; and Menlo No. 3 doubles Roshan Chandra and Justin Tian won 6-1, 6-4.

“The season really starts during the playoffs,” Leschly said. “So it doesn’t really matter what happens in the regular season. Now it’s time to focus on the CCS title and, fingers crossed, a Nor Cal title. So, that’s when the season begins for us.”