Piedmont High School’s Lucas Smolko made it through to the finals at the West Alameda County Conference boys tennis championships before falling to top-seed Elijah Cho of San Leandro.
Cho defeated Smolko in the finals at Chabot College on April 29, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
Smolko’s teammate Ben Breber lost to Cho in the semifinals, but finished fourth. He lost to Berkeley’s Leighton Sproul in the third place match, 4-6, 6-1, 10-8.
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Nate Welch and Arun Brahma teamed to take fifth place in doubles.
Smolko was the second seed in the singles bracket. He got a bye in the first round and then defeated Bishop O’Dowd’s Lucas Tanaka on April 28, 6-1, 6-1. Smolko beat the Dragons’ Colin Sweeney in the quarterfinals, also by the score of 6-1, 6-1.
In the semifinals, Smolko downed Sproul, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Smolko then faced Cho for the third time this season and played well, but couldn’t pull the match out.
“It was a thriller with Elijah getting out to an early lead before Lucas came storming back to tie it at 5-5,” Piedmont coach Jim Landes said. “Elijah broke with some great returns and went on to take the first set 7-5. Lucas grabbed the momentum in the second set by taking more control of the rallies and hitting some big forehands cross court and down the line. Third set was a battle with Elijah breaking early but Lucas coming back to tie again at 5-5. Lucas played some great defense with a couple of key lobs that kept him in the points. Alas it wasn’t to be, and Elijah won the next two games to close out the championships.”
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Breber lost to Cho in the other semifinal, 7-5, 7-5.
“(Breber) played the some of the best tennis I’ve ever seen him play,” Landes said. “Ben hit some fabulous forehands, served really well and won a lot of points at the net too.”
Ethan Pham also played in the singles tournament and won two matches before falling to, who else, Cho, 6-2, 6-1.
Smolko and Breber both made all-WACC, along with the Highlanders doubles team of Monte Imburg and Brahma.
Ethan Pham Arun Brahma
On April 26, Piedmont fell to Berkeley at home, 5-2 in a WACC regular season match. Smolko defeated Sze Ting Chen at No. 1 singles, 6-3, 6-1. Breber fell to Sproul at No. 2, 6-3, 6-2. Pham lost to Celione De Lubrouille at No. 3, 7-5, 4-6, 10-6. At No. 4, Berkeley’s Henry Grant beat Alex Zalewski, 6-3, 6-4.
In doubles, the Highlanders’ Imburg and Brahma beat Joaquin McCall and Justin Sim in the No. 1 match, 6-4, 6-2. The Yellowjackets’ Yanir Charney-Weintraub and Bo Speirs defeated Graham Alban and Nick King, 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2. And at No. 3, Berkeley’s Andrew Regan and Will Herndon downed Willie Tenney and Welch, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
On April 25, Piedmont beat San Leandro, 6-1. Cho defeated Smolko at No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-3. Breber beat Simon Cho at No. 2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Pham downed Jarrett Feinstein at No. 3, 6-0, 6-1. Imburg defeated Jose Gutterez at No. 4, 6-0, 6-0.
In doubles, King and Welch beat Ket Bunset and Dylan Stauffer at No. 1, 7-6 (1), 6-4. At No. 2, it was Alban and Tenney over Joshua Savage and David Zhu Yang, 6-0, 6-3. And Piedmont’s Chris Li and Xiaowei Elias defeated Sander Modena and Zack Lei at No. 3, 6-1, 6-0.
Next up for the Highlanders is a makeup match with Bishop O’Dowd on May 3. The North Coast Section individual tournament begins May 5. Piedmont will apply for multiple at large berths in the bracket.