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Bulldogs boys tennis team wins third straight CCC title
Turlock tennis 1
Junior No. 1 singles player for Turlock high, Davis Griffin captured another win for the Bulldogs after topping Pitmans Nick Gianfortone, 6-1, 6-3. - photo by EDDIE RUIZ/The Journal

For the third consecutive season the Turlock varsity boys’ tennis team is perfect in the regular season and for the second straight year, under head coach Jack Schneider, the Bulldogs are Central California Conference champions.

This after the Bulldogs rallied a 7-2 win over crosstown rivals, Pitman, on Thursday in a much anticipated matchup.

“It feels good,” said Schneider. “I had a good team to work with this year coming off last year. And second place is the first loser to me. I know what it takes to win. I won at all the levels, so I wanted to make sure we came out and competed.”

Schneider, who is a professional tennis coach, not just a high school coach, wanted to make sure his team was prepared for the long haul.

The Bulldogs came in and dominated their opponents in the CCC. Their closest match came against Merced in a 6-3 victory earlier in the year.

Turlock finishes the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record. The team has been perfect over the last three seasons, amassing a league record of 30-0.

“Also I need to thank my assistant, Anthony [Belew] who is also the AD here. I mean he did a great job,” said Schneider. “He handled all the situations well for the kids and made it fun and it was nice having him out there. He was really a huge asset for this team.”

Pitman falls to third place in league after a 6-4 league record.

“We fought as hard as we could, but all the best of luck to Turlock, they are a wonderful team and program,” said Pitman head coach Doug Reimers.

Turlock went on to capture a sweep in the singles before losing two in the doubles side.

Pitman’s No. 2 and 3 doubles teams captured the only wins for the Pride, with the last match coming down to a tie breaker.

In the end, Joseph Silveira and Robert Boster topped Turlock’s David Limos and Dani Malek, 7-5, 1-6 and 13-11.

Davis Griffin, Alex Lima, Ryan Asai, Marco Andre, William Anderson and Kellen Ireland all finished with wins on the singles side. Shayan Niakan and Ziya Ziya topped Alex Lat and Jason Moore of Pitman with a 7-5, 6-1 at the No. 1 doubles.

“Hopefully now we get some guys coming up for next year,” said Schneider. “A lot of our young guys did well for us but we are losing a lot of guys.”

Five of the six singles players for Turlock this year are seniors and will not be back next year.

The CCC singles match will take place at Atwater High at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.