APTOS — John McGowan, of the team captains for Aptos High’s boys tennis team, won his match at No. 3 singles to lift the Mariners over Scotts Valley 4-3 in the teams’ playoff at Imperial Courts on Friday to qualify for the Central Coast Section Team Tournament.
The Mariners and Falcons both went 9-1 in the regular season and shared the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League title. Aptos will represent the SCCAL at CCS for a seventh straight season.
“Competition in this league took a healthy leap this year,” said Sam Brown, the Mariners’ head coach. “Our team lost in our second league match. We have essentially played playoff matches for the past two months. This group is very special, they locked in and won 10 matches in a row to finish this. This is an amazing group of boys.”
The first round of the CCS Team Tournament begins May 1 at 3:30 p.m. The Mariners’ opponent and the location of their match will be decided at the seeding meeting April 29.
McGowan, 31-1 in league matches in his career, knocked off Henry Spitzer 6-1, 6-3.
Koosha Safari, 9-0 this season, and Ben Zaretsky also earned singles wins for the Mariners. Safari beat Marshall Dodge 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 and Zaretsky beat James Delaney 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2.
Scotts Valley’s Elijah Diamond beat Jack Eldredge 6-4, 3-6, 10-4 at No. 4 singles, and the Falcons won two of the three doubles matches, both in third-set tiebreakers.
In doubles action, the Falcons’ Jules Dudek and Aditya Hannon beat Sean Spencer and Samer Awwad 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 at No. 1, and Wesley Thiessen and Gabriel Dodge beat Adam Allen and Jack Taylor 6-4, 5-7, 10-8 at No. 2. The Mariners’ Nick Hambright and Nico Salinas beat Hunter Young and Julian De Santos 6-1, 6-3 at No. 3.
The SCCAL Tournament takes place at Seascape Sports Club on Tuesday at 10 a.m. and Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
IF YOU GO
SCCAL Tournament
When: Tuesday, 10 a.m.; Wednesday’s finals, 3:30 p.m.
Where: Seascape Sports Club, Aptos