For the first time since 2014, the Turlock High boys tennis team earned a win in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section team playoffs.
The No. 8 Bulldogs, champions of the Central California Athletic League for the fifth straight season this year, welcomed No. 9 McClatchy (Sacramento) to town last Friday, and defeated the Lions by a 7-2 score.
The Bulldogs avenged a 5-4 loss to the Lions in last year’s opening round, a passionate match that had its fair share of disputed calls. The sting of defeat stayed with all of Turlock’s returning players.
“I’m glad we get to face them again and try to get that one back from last year,” said senior Yaqoob Tarakhail after he and teammate Rashmeet Singh won the CCAL double title two weeks ago. “We’re ready.”
Ready, indeed. Both Tarakhail and Singh were victorious in singles games against McClatchy last week alongside Landon Tilby and William Inthongpradith, as well as all three doubles teams — Juan Carlos Valadez and Joshua Benjamin, Diego Zamora and Joseph Khalar, and Jeane Stephens and Santino Loera.
Tilby, Turlock’s third-ranked singles player, defeated Robert Shields by a 7-5, 6-3 score. Singh, ranked fourth, bested Desmond Lushbaugh 6-1, 6-2.Tarakhail defeated Lucca Lazo with 6-3, 6-4 scores. Inthongpradith rounded out the singles wins with a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Skylar Lam.
In doubles play, Valadez and Benjamin bested Lukas Lowery and Ryan Alizadeh 6-3, 6-2. Zamora and Khalar had the closest win of all matches, taking down Julien Lushbaugh and Nathan Ly by a 6-4, 7-5 score. Stephens and Loera secured Turlock’s last win with a 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Gabriel Cortez and Elliot Guiraud.
Damian Acosta, Turlock’ top singles player, dropped his match to Louis Russell by matching 6-2 games losses. Meanwhile, Peter Buie, the second-seeded Bulldog, dropped a 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 11-9 overtime thriller to Oliviero Blackledge.
“It feels incredible to achieve this goal with these players,” said Turlock head coach Garry Harris, whose top seven singles players are seniors.
The Bulldogs traveled to face top-seeded Granite Bay on Tuesday in the quarterfinal round, but dropped all nine matches. The team’s record finished at 12-4 overall on the season.
