Menlo captures tennis crown at All-American Tournament

Menlo’s No. 4 single Bo Leschly overcame an early deficit to win an 8-6 thriller over Harvard-Westlake senior Sacha Pritzget, clinching the team victory as the Knights topped Harvard-Westlake 6-3.

“The kids got wild,” Shine said. “It was like the ’51 Giants when they went crazy.”

The show of emotion was a product of Menlo’s early deficit at singles. With six singles and three doubles matches, the Knights trailed 2-1 after the completion of doubles play. Then, Menlo fell behind in four of its singles matches, the area where the blue-and-gold usually excels.

“In a matter of like 10 minutes, I went from, ‘what am I going to tell these guys after we lose?’ … and I look around, all of a sudden everything just turned around,” Shine said. “It was just incredible to see.”

The victory marks Menlo’s third championship at the 19th annual All-American Tournament, featuring some of the top-ranked teams in the nation. The Knights also won in 2010 and ’12. Last year, they settled for third place.

“I think it says a lot, especially about the senior class,” Shine said. “With the same lineup, we got third-place last year. So these guys have been [champing] at the bit for 365 days.”

The tournament is part of a series of independent competitions set up to determine an accurate national ranking. Menlo is now considered a contender, with plenty of name recognition, having finished runner-up in the Central Coast Section championships the past two years, and winning seven straight titles prior to that.

Menlo has played in the All-American Tournament every year since its inception. Shine said the name recognition was non-existent when the Knights competed in the tourney for the first time in 2000.

“They didn’t know anything about Menlo,” Shine said. “They called us Menlo Park High School … and then we got to the finals; someone from Menlo, who wasn’t worthy of anything, and all of a sudden they said, ‘Wow these guys are here!’”

This year, Menlo advanced with two preliminary wins Friday, taking down Haverford-Pennsylvania in the opener 8-0, then getting past Iolani-Hawaii 5-3. In Saturday’s semifinals, the Knights topped Peninsula-Rolling Hills 6-1.

“The score looks like a rout, but it just wasn’t,” Shine said. “Our guys just clutched up.”

Other results from the championship match: Menlo No. 1 single Sid Chari defeated Stanley Morris 8-6; Menlo No. 2 Andrei Volgin defeated Timothy Li 8-5; Harvard-Westlake No. 3 David Arkow defeated Brandon Aprill 8-3; Menlo No. 5 John Kim defeated Corey Marley 8-7 (7-5); and Menlo No. 6 Clark Safran defeated Jonah Dickson 8-3.

In doubles play: Harvard-Westlake No. 1 doubles Morris and Pritzget defeated Chari and Aprill 8-5; Harvard-Westlake No. 2 doubles Li and Arkow defeated Volgin and Kim 8-6; and Menlo No. 3 doubles Leschly and Safran defeated Dickson and Thomas 8-4.