Santiago defeats King to clinch Big VIII title

The Santiago boys tennis team wanted to make a statement Tuesday afternoon. And the Sharks did so with an exclamation point.

Led by strong efforts from its doubles teams, Santiago cruised to a 12-6 win over King to clinch the Big VIII League title for the second straight season.

Logan Cassatt and Andy Wang swept their sets (64, 6-4, 6-1) at No. 1 doubles, while William Kong and Luke Chaya did likewise in their No. 2 doubles position (6-3 7-5, 6-1). The No. 3 doubles team of Nyle Raouf and Vishnu Sharma picked up two more points for the Sharks.

“We are really proud of our doubles teams and how they have been playing throughout the entire season,” Sharks coach Michael Munoz said. “Everyone is doing their part. Their hard work and communication on the court have been important, and it really paid off for us today.”

Kong and Chaya had a rollercoaster ride in their first set of the match. The duo had a 5-1 lead, but King’s Derek Williams and Ian Zhang won four straight games to level the score. Kong and Chaya recovered and won the final two games, giving Santiago a 4-2 lead after one rotation.

“It took a lot of mental toughness and fortitude (to win the set),” Kong said. “Back in my sophomore or freshman year, I probably would have exploded mentally and lost it from there. … We just picked each other up. … We saw opportunities there, and we were able to take advantage of those.”

Cassatt and Wang erased a 4-1 deficit during their final set and won five straight games to score Santiago’s final point of the match.

“That’s tennis. There are going to be momentum swings,” Munoz said. “Your opponent is going to get hot at times, and you just have to ride that out and hope your opportunity comes. I think we were patient today, understood what was happening and stayed calm under pressure.”

King dominated the Big VIII League for several years, but Santiago dethroned the Wolves last year and won its first league championship since 2015. The Sharks went 9-1 in league last season. The goal is to complete an undefeated run with a victory Thursday against Norco.

“It means a lot,” Raouf said of winning the league championship two years in a row. “We all have gotten better together, and that has been cool to see.”

King’s Ronith Sreeram scored half of King’s points Tuesday afternoon, as he rolled to wins of 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 from the No. 1 singles spot. Sreeram is one of the area’s best singles players and reached the quarterfinals at the 2023 CIF Southern Section individual tournament.

“Ronnie took a little break from tennis after last season,” Harris said. “I think it was something he needed to do to reset some things, and he has come back playing better than ever. I think he’s in good form and could make another run at the CIF tournament this season.”