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Turlocks Griffin wins CCC singles, MVP honors
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Turlocks Davis Griffin is the 2017 CCC Singles Champion and was named the leagues Most Valuable Player. Griffin topped Andrew Rosero of Pitman in the finale on Thursday, 6-3 and 6-0. - photo by CANDY PADILLA/The Journal

The Central California Conference hosted the boys tennis tournament for singles and doubles this past week and Turlock and Pitman High saw mixed results in both.

The singles started on Tuesday from Pitman High, and in the end, the town of Turlock saw a CCC crosstown finale after Davis Griffin (Turlock) and Andrew Rosero (Pitman) battled it out on Thursday from the Brenda Athletics courts.

Griffin was able to handle Rosero and topped him in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-0.

“I knew Davis was going to win,” said Turlock head coach Jack Schneider. “He was in tune. Andrew never had a chance in that match, he tried to do what he could, but he wasn't ready, next year for sure after I work with him. He is one of my students and we will make changes, he can be the Davis of next year.”

Schneider said what made Griffin so tough as opposed to others in the CCC was his variety.

“He can slice, his RPM on the tennis ball is more than I have ever seen at the high school level,” said Schneider. “Part was switching rackets and you can see right away, speed was there, a lot more power than last year.”

This was one of the reasons that Griffin earned CCC MVP honors.   

Before facing Rosero, Griffin had to battle fellow Bulldog Shayan Niakan in the semifinals. The senior player, Griffin, came out on top.

On the doubles side, Turlock's Ziya Ziya was back in action after winning the doubles tournament a year ago with Kellen Ireland. This time Ziya was with Niakan and the two made their way into the finals after winning three straight matches on Thursday.

This set up a finale against the Delgadillo brothers from Atwater, where the duo from Turlock fell, 6-4, 3-6 and 7-5.

“Really cool and exciting to see Ziya and Shayan do so well,” said Schneider. “Shayan deserves some credit because he played so great. Shayan came into his own in this tournament and will be big dog next year.”

Next for Turlock is a team match in the Division-I Sac-Joaquin Section Tournament against an opponent yet to be named at a time yet to be determined on Tuesday.

 

“Great season, I couldn't be happier, couldn’t ask for anything better,” said Schneider. “I love the kids I have this year, they were awesome.”