Piedmont High School’s Lucas Smolko won the North Coast Section Division 2 singles title as the Highlanders boys tennis team completed a successful season.
Smolko is the first NCS champion from Piedmont since Barry Gilbert won the 1975 singles crown. Other Highlanders to win the tournament are Bob Harman (1933-34), Phil Harman (1936), Bob Rutledge (1941) and Curtis Crawford (1955). Note that the NCS has a couple of missing years in its records.
This year’s tournament ran May 8-9 at Marin Tennis Club. Smolko opened by defeating St. Patrick-St. Vincent-Vallejo’s Oscar Svenson, 6-0, 6-0. He then beat Armaan Mishra of Lick-Wilmerding-San Francisco in the second round, 6-1, 6-4.
Smolko next downed Convent and Stuart Hall’s Teddy Morfit in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-0. He then won the title with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Sze Ting Chen of Acalanes.
The Piedmont team qualified for the Division 1 team tournament and lost in the first round to San Ramon Valley, 4-2. The Highlanders wins came in doubles with Ben Davis and Joey Assalian beating Bruce Azamov and Dominic Allen at No. 1, 6-3, 6-4. Carter Brookfield and Hunter Fasteau defeated Marcus Mendoza and James Namimatsu at No. 2, 7-6 (4), 6-2. The Wolves’ Nikhil Patel and Nathan Johnson downed Travers Kemp and Henry Van Den Bos at No. 3, 7-5, 6-4.
Smolko and Rishi Palle suspended their match at No. 1 singles after the team match was decided with each taking a set. San Ramon Valley took the other three. Arush Singla of the Wolves beat Nate Welch at No. 2, 6-3, 6-1. Darwish Riyaz downed Ari Moscovitz at No. 3, 6-0, 6-1. Ethan Hair defeated Emilio Misra at No. 4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
“I felt we had a good chance then to pull the upset,” Highlanders coach Jim Landes said. “Just as Lucas was splitting sets with Rishi Palle, an opponent with an even higher UTR than Lucas, Emilio went down 6-4 in the 3rd. It was late and the boys were tired so Lucas and Rishi shook hands in a draw and our season was over.”
Piedmont finished the season 16-7.