Vista wins second straight section tennis championship

It looked like the Vista del Lago boys' tennis team was going to roll to its second consecutive Sac-Joaquin Section title Wednesday at Laguna Creek Racquet Club. In a race to five, the Eagles took the first four matches and led by a set in three others. And then the momentum shifted. "We fell behind in every second set that was still on the court," Vista del Lago coach Marc Erwin said. "Even with four matches in hand, I started to get really nervous. I didn't know where that last point was going to come from." Fortunately for the Eagles, two big second-set comebacks were in store, and they won yet another match in three sets to capture the Division 3 title 7-2 in a finals rematch against Central Catholic-Modesto. Freshman Adam Abumughaiseeb clinched it at No. 6 singles, rallying from a 5-1 deficit in the second set against Ryan Wagner to take a 6-5 lead before winning in a tiebreaker. He prevailed 7-5, 7-6 (7-2). "He's the comeback king," Erwin said. "He's done this several times over the past few weeks, where he just needs a little pep talk and his whole attitude shifts. And once he starts thinking positively, he starts playing a lot better." Abumughaiseeb won by an identical score in the semifinal against Mira Loma, had another second-set comeback in the first round against Patterson, and avenged a regular-season loss to Rio Americano in the Capital Athletic League tournament after dropping the first set. Moments later, the No. 2 doubles team of senior Siva Polavali and junior Deeraj Gurram added another point to the Eagles' tally by coming back to also win a second-set tiebreaker. They beat Adrian Cuevas and Daniel Gallegos, a very spirited pair from Central Catholic, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1). "That was a raucous match," Erwin said. "Siva and Deeraj are pretty quiet guys, and I found out from the other coach that their opponents were football players. They were really good athletes, super aggressive and loud after every point they won. I'm really proud of my guys for hanging in there in a tough atmosphere and finding a way to win. They just stayed focused on what they were doing and shut out all the other distractions." And those distractions included everyone who wasn't playing watching their match. Because it was so loud, the crowd gravitated there and started cheering every point. That gave Erwin the chance to talk to Abumughaiseeb and junior No. 4 Samyak Surti without a lot of attention on those courts. Surti lost the first set and said he wasn't feeling well. But he came back to win the second set, and Erwin and Surti talked during the break after the second set. "I was totally frank with him," Erwin said. "I told him we needed his point badly. He's a leader on the team, and we needed him to step up. I also told him that what was going on four courts away in that doubles match was the perfect scenario. We'll keep everyone distracted down there with this loud match, and by the time anyone notices what's going on here, you'll be on your way to winning." Sure enough, Surti stormed to a 4-1 lead by the time Abumughaiseeb finished and capped it off 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 over Evan Corsiglia. The top of the ladder put the Eagles in a great position. Freshman Vikram Balaji was off the court in 40 minutes, winning 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles, and he was quickly followed by junior No. 2 Ian Ng (6-3, 6-1) and sophomore No. 1 Sourav Vemulapalli (6-0, 6-3). After a first-set struggle, senior Jack Taylor gave Vista its fourth point at No. 5 singles, winning 7-5, 6-1. "We've been strong top to bottom all year, but those guys really showed how valuable they are," Erwin said. "With very few exceptions, I've just been able to mark them down for wins all year long and could concentrate on helping the guys lower down the ladder. Vikram had an excellent season from beginning to end, and Sourav really turned it on in the postseason." The Eagles (13-4) beat the Raiders (15-3) 8-1 in last year's Division 4 final. Although the final score was similar, it was a much closer match. "They are so much better than they were last year," Erwin said. "Big credit to their coach and the players for working so hard to improve. But I'm so proud of my guys. They faced some adversity, fought through it and prevailed. They deserve this."