Westlake Loses Leads and Title

Westlake High won two sets and led two others during the six-set first round of Wednesday’s Southern Section Division III boys’ tennis final against top-seeded Beverly Hills.

But neither Aaron Bert nor the doubles team of Deep Ganguli and Chalmers Wang were able to hold those leads and momentum shifted.

The Warriors lost five of six sets in the second round and were mathematically assured of a loss when they dropped the first set to be decided in the third round of a 14-4 loss at The Claremont Club in Claremont.

Bert led Garrett Leight, 5-4, wound up losing, 7-5. Wang and Ganguli lost to Darren Himeles and Brandon Richman, 7-6 (4), after leading, 4-1.

“Losing, 4-2, changed the dynamics,” Westlake Coach Bernard Kuai said after his team’s 40-match winning streak was ended. “They were the favorite and if we got them 4-2, it would have forced them to press themselves. When you press yourself, you make more mistakes.”

Kuai and Coach Mike Margolin of Beverly Hills said the Normans were “tight” at the start.

“When they were tight, we should have closed the door,” Kuai said.

Margolin said his team was “extremely lucky” to lead, 4-2.

“I didn’t think we were playing well,” Margolin said.

Beverly Hills (23-5) continued its playoff dominance in singles play, winning all nine sets. The Normans won 44 of 45 singles sets in five playoff matches.

Bert, who Kuai expected to win all three of his sets, lost to Justin Gordon, Beverly Hills’ No. 2 singles player, 7-6 (3), in the second round, and to No. 1 Bryan Swatt, 6-2, in the third round.

“He just had an off day,” Kuai said. “He’s a very good player.”

Sophomore Josh Kuai, Bernard Kuai’s son, lost to Gordon, 6-1, in the first round, to Swatt, 6-2, in the second and to Leight, 6-4, which gave the Normans the point to clinch the match.

Sophomore Jack Sayner, shifted to singles because his doubles partner Alan Kim was unable to play because of what Bernard Kuai said was “a school decision,” lost all three of his sets.

Westlake (19-1) was also missing Arthur Lee, part of its No. 3 doubles team, because of injury. Ganguli and Wang lost all three of their sets at No. 3 doubles.

Jackson Ellis and Alex Sundling, and Taylor Chien and Matt Pardee each won two doubles sets for Westlake.

This is was the fourth consecutive year Westlake and Beverly Hills have met in a Southern Section final. The Warriors won their first section boys’ tennis championship last year, 10-8, after losing, 10-8, in 1998 and 1999.