PREP TENNIS : DeCret Defeats Peters for Title

Alex DeCret of Santa Barbara High and Loren Peters of Peninsula advanced to the final of the Southern Section boys’ singles championship at Seacliff Tennis Club Saturday for the second consecutive year.

Even after Saturday’s final, however, the debate continued over which one of them is the best.

DeCret defeated Peters in the final, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. His victory tied the score between the rivals, 1-1, in Southern Section singles championships.

“Now we’re even, I guess,” said Peters, who won it in 1992.

Even though top-seeded DeCret dominated third-seeded Peters in the final--especially during the third set, when DeCret gave up only two points in four games--DeCret said that this year’s match between the two seniors may have come down to a matter of desire.

“Maybe I just wanted to win more badly than he wanted to,” DeCret said.

DeCret came to the United States from France in 1990 to go to school and play tennis. He lives with his brother, David, a former UC Santa Barbara tennis player. DeCret said that he will return to France, where his parents live, after he graduates from high school this year.

Peters plans to attend UCLA.

In the doubles final, top-seeded Nathan Jackmon and Jason Merrin of Santa Barbara defeated Dave Robbins and Joseph Gilbert of Fullerton Sunny Hills, 7-5, 7-5.