| | Published May 17th, 2017
| Miramonte exits in second round of NCS Division 1 tournament
| | | By Karl Buscheck |  | | Photo Gint Federas |
After powering to the DAL title with a flawless 10-0 mark, the Miramonte boys tennis squad earned a berth in the NCS Division 1 team tournament.
Seeded No. 5 in the bracket, the Mats advanced to the second round of the competition before Foothill - the champions of the East Bay Athletic League - dumped them out of the competition.
Before entering the premier NCS field, head coach Michael McCollom had warned of the difficulties that lay ahead.
"We are a very good team - one of my better teams over the years,"McCollom said. "But I can tell you, it's going to be quite a big (challenge to win NCS)."
In the second-round defeat on May 11 in Pleasanton, the Mats lost to Foothill, the fellow league winners, 5-2. Junior Nico Haet claimed the team's only singles match win (6-2, 4-6, 6-3), while the pairing of Kush Subramanian and Dominic Davidson earned the only double victory (6-4, 6-0).
The loss to Foothill marked the first time since Feb. 24 (against Mission San Jose) that the Mats were on the wrong side of the score line.
Miramonte had reached the meeting with Foothill by dispatching College Park, 4-3, in the opening round on May 9 in Orinda.
Even as the Mats claimed just one of four singles matches - freshman Micah Elias' 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 win in the No. 4 spot - Miramonte triumphed by sweeping the doubles ladder.
"That usually is my goal is to have a real solid doubles performance," McCollom explained. "I have some wonderful boys in my lineup. The two juniors are William Hwang at No. 1 (singles) and my No. 2 Haet. They're really strong. Behind that, I have (senior captain) Jack O'Melveny at No. 3, (sophomore) Liam Dowd at No. 4. Then I have a really nice freshman - Micah Elias - he's really strong."
While Campolindo didn't advance to the NCS team tournament - the Cougars toppled out of the doubles competition in the opening round - head coach Alan Weissbaum is confident the program is trending in the right direction.
The Cougars (11-8 overall, 8-3 in league) will have nine seniors on the roster next spring and one of the team's rising sophomores - Cal Hunter - has already emerged as a marquee talent.
"I think we're going to be fairly strong next year," Weissbaum said. "We're not losing any of our singles players, so that's really good for us and I think we'll only get stronger. Our No. 1 player Cal Hunter is improving nicely and he won the DAL singles tournament."
In addition to Hunter, Weissbaum singled out junior captain Zach Goldman as an "good all-around guy," and also paid his respects to one of the Cougars' departing stars.
"Jake Oxendine was our No. 1 doubles guy and he was a standout," Weissbaum said. "He pretty much won all the time. He was also one of our captains and it was fun to have him on board and he's a senior, so we'll certainly miss him."
Like the Cougars, the Dons didn't advance to the NCS team competition. Acalanes concluded its season with a 7-7 record overall and a 2-5 mark in league play, good for fourth place in the league standings.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA