CLAREMONT – When it is all said and done, there can be only one champion.
At University, John Kessler and his staff are not building a team. They are building a dynasty.
The Trojans extended their phenomenal winning streak to 115 games by defeating CIF-SS Division 2 champion San Marino, 5-2, in the Southern California Regional finals Saturday at the Claremont Club.
The win gives University (25-0) back-to-back regional championships (both against San Marino) after the team captured its fifth straight CIF-SS title against Harvard-Westlake of Studio City last week.
Kessler said it took some time to round into championship form this year, but the final pieces of the puzzle were put in place by the time the CIF-SS playoffs came around.
One of the keys was the doubles pairing of Konrad Kozlowski and Garrett Kurtz, who defeated Robert Carter and Charles Deng, 6-2, 6-0, in the regional final. Carter did not lose a set during the regular season, including a 9-9 nonleague matchup that went the Trojans’ way to start the year.
“We’ve been avoiding Garrett and Konrad all year because we’ve been trying to spread out a little bit,” Kessler said. “We just ended up coming back to it in CIF and then here in the State (regionals).”
The win by Kozlowski and Kurtz was part of a push that put University ahead, 3-0, just over an hour into the match. Arash Hafezi beat Timothy Duong, 6-0, 6-1, and Riku Hashiyada defeated Jason Wang in straight sets.
San Marino (18-2) captured a victory at the No. 2 doubles spot. Arseni Yalouskikh and Tommy Wang clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Arthur Wicke and Connor Lee.
Eric Tseng also won his singles match over Ryan Cheng, 6-3, 6-4.
In the battle of the top singles players, Daniel Gealer outlasted Drew Dawson in a tight first set. He went on to win the match, 7-6 (2), 6-1.
“We’ve been such a great team,” Kurtz said. “We’ve been so coherent. We’ve been so together. I feel like we’ve just been so united and just ‘Go Uni’ this year.”
