Harvard-Westlake denies University another title with win in CIF open division final

University High players are introduced before Friday’s open division final. (Photo courtesy University tennis)

University High’s boys tennis coach John Kessler had hoped it was going to be another special day Friday.

But Harvard-Westlake came away with the victory Friday in the CIF Open Division final in front of a large and boisterous crowd at University. The teams were tied 9-9 in sets after regulation but Harvard Westlake won the tiebreaker on games 93-88.

The open division is the highest for tennis in CIF and the Trojans were top-seeded going into the playoffs.

“I thought this would be number 10 (CIF title for him) but it was not to be,” Kessler said.

There were no CIF playoffs last season due to the coronavirus pandemic. University defeated Harvard Westlake 10-8 in 2019 to capture the crown.

University moved out to a 4-2 lead after the first round when Rithvik Krishna (headed to UC Irvine) defeated Marcus Ekstrand 7-6, 14-12 in the tiebreak.  

The teams split sets at three apiece in round two as University took a 7-5 lead into the final round., according to Kessler.

The Trojans went up 9-7 after Nic Conta and Zino Mirtorabi won 6-4 at first doubles and Konrad Walter-Wu and SangHyuk Im won 7-6 in second doubles.

“But  the Wolverines fought back winning the final two singles matches to tie the score 9-9 and win the match on total games counted,” Kessler said.

It was the first loss of the season for Uni’s top two singles players, Kessler added.

“Senior captain Nic Conta and Zino Mirtorabi won all three of the sets they played,” Kessler said.

Harvard-Westlake and University have dominated the highest division of boys division during the last 18 years, according to Kessler.

“Over the last 18 years University and Harvard-Westlake have won 13 of the 18 D-1/open division titles with the Trojans winning nine times,” Kessler said.