Reznik slows M-A train

“We just want to keep it going,” Andrew said of M-A’s recent dominance in PAL play.

Andrew and Jorgensen, the No. 2 seed, took on top-seeded Levi Vigdorchik and Alex Kastelein, who were in the finals for the second straight season.

But the Woodside duo would have to settle for runner-up once again as Andrew and Jorgensen simply overpowered their opponent on their way to a 6-0, 6-0 victory.

“It’s nice to get to CCS my last year,” the senior Jorgensen said. “We have the attitude of never let up. Even when it was 5-0 in the second set, we were still telling each other to focus.”

The Woodside tandem certainly didn’t put much pressure on the M-A team, dumping returns into the net or spraying shots long and wide.

Still, Jorgensen and Andrew were not content to just wait for their counterparts to make mistakes. They stayed aggressive to the end.

“If you give them any hope, it can go a long way,” Andrew said.

All four players in the doubles final played mostly in singles during the regular season before teaming up for the postseason individual tournaments.

“I thought it would be fun to give doubles a try and (I) just killed it with Jake,” Jorgensen said, who played in the singles tournament last season. “Jake and I had played a tournament, USTA, together, but that was a while ago. We developed some good chemistry (during the PAL tournament).”

The singles final, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of the doubles final as both Reznik and Berthier grinded for the better part of two hours. Both fiery players, the end of the first set was marred by some comments made in the heat of the moment that required tournament director Bill Smith, Burlingame’s head coach, to bring players and coaches together to hash things out. Reznik then went on to break Berthier to win the first set, 6-2.

“It’s all part of the game,” Reznik said, who will play tennis at University of Redlands next season. “We both have emotions involved. … But don’t let bad emotions overtake you. It’s important to keep your head straight.”

The two players seemed to have put aside any bad feelings as they shared a banana on the first change over of the second set. But after the match, Berthier admitted his emotions got the better of him.

“The first set was pretty crazy. I got distracted and lost focus,” Berthier said. “Second set, I realized that and put all my focus on the court.”

Berthier trailed 3-2 in the second set, but held serve and then broke Reznik to take a 4-3 lead and go on to take the second set 6-3.

Reznik immediately broke Berthier to start the third set and held his serve to take a quick 2-0 lead.

But Berthier came right back to win the next three games to take a 3-2 lead. Berthier trailed 30-40 before whipping a big cross-court winner to send the game to deuce, which Berthier won on a Reznik error to give M-A’s top singles player the lead.

But Reznik showed why he was the defending champion as he won the final four games. He used a pair of strong passing shots to tie the set at 3-all and then broke Berthier at deuce for a 4-3 lead. Reznik held for a 5-3 advantage and then broke Berthier for his second straight PAL title.

“It feels great,” Reznik said. “I really wanted this. Being a senior, it’s amazing to come out on top.”

In the third-place singles match, M-A’s Cole Hagerman, the No. 4 seed, beat second-seeded Milad Shafaie of Carlmont, 6-0, 6-3. In the third-place doubles match, the M-A team of Zach Ostrow and Maxim Lukic rallied from a set down to beat the Aragon tandem of Rithik Booreddy and Ilan Leventhal, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.