University’s boys tennis team after winning the regional title. (Photo courtey University tennis).
The University boys tennis team captured its third Southern California Regional title title defeating Corona del Mar 4-3 on Saturday at the Claremont Club.
The Trojans topped San Luis Obispo 7-0 and The Bishops School from San Diego 5-2 in the semifinals on Friday.
The final marked the fourth time University faced CdM this year. The Sea Kings defeated Palisades Charter 7-0 an Woodbridge 4-3 to get to the championship match.
Uni won both non-league matches 11-7 earlier in the year before defeating CdM 12-6 in the CIF open division finals.
Senior Ani Gupta and sophomore Ari Len both won their singles sets to give Uni (29-1) an early 3-2 lead, according to Uni Coach John Kessler. Junior captain SangHyuk Im and junior Bradley Yung also won their match at first doubles.
“The whole match came down to third doubles where sophomore Cedric Lichtsteiner and senior Zitong Chen came back after dropping the first set to win two straight sets and clinch the match for Uni,” Kessler said.
The win on Friday vs. The Bishops School was Kessler’s 500th win as Uni boys coach. He now has a 501-71 record, including 18 Pacific Coast League and 11 CIF titles.
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