Lucas Smolko took the singles title and the team of Monte Imburg and Nate Welch won the doubles crown as Piedmont High School’s boys tennis team had a very successful West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division championships at Chabot College.
Smolko defeated Bishop O’Dowd’s Neo Chai in the championship match on April 27, 6-2, 6-2. He had beaten Berkeley’s Sze-Ting Chen in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-0. Smolko received a first round bye on April 26. He then hammered Castro Valley’s Arik Hoffman, 6-0, 6-0.
Ben Breber also got a first round bye for Piedmont. He then downed Colin Pero of Alameda, 6-1, 6-2. Breber lost to Chai in the semifinals, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2. Chen then defeated Breber in the third place match, 8-4.
Imburg and Welch opened up with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Alameda’s James Chea and Remi Banducci. In the second round, they defeated Bishop O’Dowd’s Mateen LeClair and Lucas Tanaka, 4-6, 6-2, 10-7. In the semifinals, Imburg and Welch downed Bishop O’Dowd’s Alex Byrd and Henry Hoffman, 7-5, 7-5. In the finals, they beat Bishop O’Dowd’s Elias Cross and Max Hamilton, 6-2, 7-6 (3).
Also competing in doubles for the Highlanders was the team of Nick King and Arun Brahma. They opened with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Castro Valley’s Elliott Simon and Devin Shay. King and Brahma then fell to Cross and Hamilton, 7-5, 6-1. In the consolation bracket, they then lost to Bishop O’Dowd’s Marcello Sachelari and Jack Gonzalez.
Piedmont’s third team of Will Tenney and Hunter Fasteau lost their opener to Bo Spiers and Will Herndon of Berkeley, 6-1, 6-4. They then defeated Alameda’s Caleb Wong and Colby Okasaki, 8-2. Alameda’s Chea and Banducci then beat Tenney and Fasteau, 8-7 (7).
The Highlanders concluded their regular season on April 23 with a 4-3 loss at home to Bishop O’Dowd. Smolko defeated Chei at No. 1 singles, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 10-7. Breber beat Cross at No. 2, 6-3, 7-5. Piedmont’s other point came from No. 1 doubles, where Imburg and Welch downed Byrd and Hoffman, 6-3, 6-2.
The Dragons Oliver Liao beat Siddharth Bhatia at No. 3 singles, 6-1, 6-2. Hamilton downed Derek Chan at No. 4, 6-1, 6-1.
At No. 2 doubles, LeClair and Tanaka defeated King and Graham Alban, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6. And Sachelari and Gonzalez beat Tenney and Brahma at No. 3, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1.
The North Coast Section individual tournament began May 3 at the Golden Gate Tennis Courts in San Francisco. The team brackets will be announced May 5.