At Claremont Club, It’s a Day of Firsts

Patience and perseverance paid off for Redlands, Redondo and Calabasas Viewpoint as the teams won their first titles during the Southern Section boys’ team tennis championships Wednesday at The Claremont Club.

Top-seeded Redlands (23-2) rode a 16-match winning streak to the Division III title, beating defending champion Long Beach Poly (21-4) on games, 78-76, after the teams tied, 9-9, in sets. It was the Terriers’ first appearance in a final since 1964.

Redlands freshman Andrew Mateljan won, 6-2, over Long Beach Poly junior Pierre Batton in the deciding third-round set.

Batton was hampered by cramps in his left calf in the last set. He won his other sets, 6-4, 6-2, but so did Mateljan, 6-4, 6-1.

Redlands won six of nine singles sets to counteract the second-seeded Jackrabbits’ victories in six of nine doubles sets, including a three-set sweep by Albert Barnum and Miguel Rodriguez.

In Division IV, top-seeded Redondo (27-2) won its first boys’ tennis title by beating Brentwood, 12-6. Brentwood beat Redondo by the same score in last season’s championship match.

Redondo juniors Andy Gerst and Nick Berger won the Southern Section doubles title on Saturday over teammates Jon Vlasach and Logan Bailey.

Gerst, senior Nathan Stadler, Berger and partner Chance Finley, and Vlasach and Bailey all swept their sets Wednesday.

Second-seeded Brentwood finished 16-5.

For second-seeded Viewpoint (21-2), which defeated Liberty League rival North Hollywood Oakwood (12-6), 13-5, in the Division V title match, the championship was the school’s first in any sport. Senior Geoff Chizever swept his sets to remain undefeated in team matches.

In other matches:

North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake def. Los Angeles Loyola, 14-4 -- The Wolverines (22-0), who had beaten Loyola twice in Mission League play, won their second title in three years. They defeated Brentwood in the Division V final in 2002.

Second-seeded Harvard-Westlake took a 5-1 lead after the first round of matches and never let the unseeded Cubs (20-4) get close. The Wolverines took eight of nine doubles sets, including a 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 sweep by juniors Sam Wagner and Hiro Kobayashi.

Fullerton Sunny Hills 10, Palm Desert 8 -- Sophomore Michael Eraso won two key singles sets and the doubles team of juniors Ryan Daily and K-Ming Lee swept three sets as the second-seeded Lancers (22-2) won the Division II title, their first since 1997.

Sunny Hills, the Freeway League co-champion with Fullerton Troy, ended the season with a 10-match winning streak.

Top-ranked Palm Desert finished 23-2.

-- Elia Powers and Lauren Peterson

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Junior Bobby Tam of Los Angeles Belmont defeated senior Dan Escobedo of Woodland Hills El Camino Real, 6-3, 6-2, to win the City Section Individual singles championship at Balboa Tennis Center in Encino.

Tam, seeded third out of 64 players, did not lose a set in five matches.

He broke Escobedo four times and ended the match by serving an ace.

Escobedo, who was unseeded, committed 24 unforced errors.

Top-seeded Isaac Adrabi and Chad Gerber of El Camino Real completed an undefeated season by beating unseeded Adam Regele and Jarome Rubi of Sun Valley Poly, 6-2, 6-2, in the doubles final.

Adrabi and Gerber lost one set in five tournament matches.

-- Steve Galluzzo