Boys Tennis: Highlanders Take Fourth in Prestigious Tournament

The boys tennis team surpassed Mission San Jose and Monta Vista to place fourth in the top division of the California High School Tennis Classic, which was held in Fresno Friday and Saturday.

The tournament, organized by Clovis' Buchanan High, had 120 teams participating across all divisions. Piedmont went into the tournament seeded fourth in Division I.

Even without its No. 1 singles player, Mackie McDonald, who was out with the flu, Piedmont made it through the first two rounds Friday to keep its seeding.

Most of the team had left for Fresno right after school ended Thursday, but No. 1 doubles player Jack Hunt had left Piedmont at 5 a.m. Friday. He made it to Fresno just in time to take the court with David Siu in the opening match, and together they had their finest day of tennis yet for the Piedmont team.

Hunt and Siu pulled out back-to-back three-set wins in against Khalia Dhowoul and Anthoy Kong of Mission San Jose-Fremont and then Ryan Mui and Sake Gioto of Monta Vista-Cupertino in the quarterfinal. Their performances earned the duo the singles players' vote for MVPs of day one of the tournament.

Piedmont's Jon Wang, Matt Wang and Daniel Cooper all won both of their singles matches Friday, while Tyler Gadbois fell in two superbreakers. The doubles teams of Alex "Dmitri" Weickhardt and Jon Shum and Matt McKeen and Zach Copeland were defeated in both of their matches.

In the semifinal round Saturday morning, Piedmont moved its singles players into doubles to try and pick up a couple of wins against Menlo, the defending Tennis Classic champs and defending NorCal team champs. But No. 2 pair Jon Wang and Daniel Cooper delivered the only win at doubles for Piedmont.

Siu took on Andrew Ball in the No. 3 18s slot, putting on a good show despite his defeat. Menlo's perennial power also took town Weickhardt, Hunt and Shum in third-round singles. 

Piedmont met its old nemesis, , in the consolation match Saturday afternoon.

Matt Wang's comeback win over Mark Meyer was the highlight of Piedmont's showing in the match. Wang was down a set and 3-0 when he won six straight games to force the third set superbreaker and ultimately pull out the 10-7 win.

Zach Copeland and Josh Barza nearly pulled off another upset at No. 3 doubles before falling in the superbreaker.

Devin MacCracken and Grant Gadbois and, in a last-minute pairing, Will Corvin and Kenji Ky-Fries joined for their first big varsity matches. Although both pairs lost their doubles matches Saturday, they showed what the future promises for the varsity.

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Round 1, Friday, March 4: Piedmont 4, Mission San Jose 3

SINGLES:

1. Evan Dankewicz def Tyler Gadbois 4-6, 6-1, 10-6
2. Jon Wang (P) def Nikhil Krishna 6-1, 6-4
3. Matt Wang (P) def Calvin Chiang 6-0, 6-2
4. Daniel Cooper (P) def Bobby Xiong 6-0, 6-2

DOUBLES:

1. David Siu/Jack Hunt (P) def Khalia Dhowoul/Anthony Kong 4-6, 6-4, 10-7
2. Jonathan Ho/Kevin Cuo def Alex Weickhardt/Jon Shum 6-4, 6-2
3. Gran Lam/Allen Shih def Matt McKeen/Zach Copeland (P) 6-3, 6-3

Quarterfinals, Friday, March 3: Piedmont 4, Monta Vista (Cupertino) 3

SINGLES:

1. Amveet Mohanty def Tyler Gadbois (P) 6-1, 3-6, 10-7
2. Jon Wang (P) def Nathan Law 6-4, 6-3
3. Matt Wang (P) def Edwin Chan 6-3, 6-1
4. Daniel Cooper (P) def Edward Ang 6-2, 6-4

DOUBLES:

1. David Siu/Jack Hunt (P) def Ryan Mui/Sake Gioto 6-3, 4-6, 10-7
2. Sax Day/Jeremy Liu def Alex Weickhardt/Jon Shum 6-2, 3-6, 10-6
3. Alan Nguyen/Leon Nguyen def Matt McKeen/Zach Copeland 6-3, 6-3

Semifinals, Saturday, March 4: Menlo 6, Piedmont 1

SINGLES:

1. A Ball def David Siu (P) 6-1, 6-0
2. Pham def Alex Weickhardt 6-0, 6-1
3. Carlisle def Jack Hunt (P) 6-1, 6-0
4. Nishimura def Jon Shum (P) 6-0, 6-0

DOUBLES:

1. Chan/Markovine def Tyler Gadbois/Matt Wang (P) 6-3, 6-0
2. Jon Wang/Daniel Cooper (P) def Sun/D Ball 6-3, 7-5
3. Boyd/Hoffman def Devin MacCracken/Grant Gadbois 6-0, 6-0

Consolation Round, Saturday, March 4: Monte Vista 6, Piedmont 1

SINGLES:

1. Shaun Chadourhi def Tyler Gadbois (P) 6-0, 6-0
2. Chris Kopiris def Jon Wang (P) 6-0, 0-1 (ret, injury)
3. Matt Wang (P) def Mark Meyer 3-6, 6-3, 10-7
4. Anthony Lim def Daniel Cooper (P) 6-3, 6-4

DOUBLES:

1. Michael Feldman/Kelvan Tabrizi def Alex Weickhardt/Matt McKeen (P) 6-2, 6-3
2. Jacob Clark/Adrian Sirovica def Josh Barza/Zach Copeland (P) 6-3, 1-6, 10-6
3. Rohan Toor/Matt Yosnide def Kenji Ky-Fries/Will Corvin (P) 6-1, 6-0

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Jackie Slabaugh contributed the information for this write-up. Piedmont Patch is happy to publish game results whenever they are available. Coaches, managers, and parents affiliated with any Piedmont team are encouraged to e-mail game stats, summaries and photos to Editor Amy Jeffries at amy@patch.com.