SEAL BEACH – It couldn’t be anymore fitting that the final shot of Eric Tseng’s University High career happened to be an emphatic overhand winner.
The senior’s smash put an exclamation mark on yet another successful year for the school’s tennis program, which added more championship hardware to a crowded collection.
Tseng and his doubles partner, Arash Hafezi, wrapped up the season with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over San Marino’s Robert Carter and Ryan Cheng in the CIF Individual Championships on Saturday afternoon at Seal Beach Tennis Center.
“I’m really just speechless,” Tseng said after the match. “This is the perfect way to end four years of incredible tennis at Uni.”
For the second year in a row, it was Hafezi and Tseng hoisting championship plaques after the match. In 2013, the pair actually beat their teammates, Drew Dawson and Stefan Menichella, in the finals.
“Winning is hard in itself,” Hafezi said. “Winning the same thing again, in such a big tournament with some of the best players in the nation, that’s something else. It’s phenomenal.”
Playing alongside Dawson in April’s Ojai Tournament, Hafezi played against the same San Marino doubles squad of Carter and Cheng. that was on the court Saturday. The result turned out to be very similar.
After falling behind 1-3 in the first set, the Trojans won four of the next five games to capture a 5-4 lead. With Tseng holding serve in the 10th game, University took the opening set 6-4.
The Trojans broke serve in the fifth game of the second set, and once it went ahead 4-2, there was no looking back.
“Great way for these guys to go out,” University coach John Kessler said. “They deserve it. They’re great kids, and they’ve had a great run together.”
On the singles side, Dawson’s season concluded a round earlier than he would have liked. The University senior lost to Michael Genender (Harvard-Westlake of Studio City), 7-5, 6-3 at the start of the afternoon in the semifinals.
Genender was eventually crowned the new CIF singles champ after an impressive 6-3, 6-4 showing over Palm Desert’s Austin Rapp.
Rapp knocked out Dana Hills’ Chase Masciorini in the semis, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), so no county players advanced to the singles championship round.
Former University star, Gage Brymer, won the last three CIF singles titles (2011-13).
Tseng and Hafezi’s performance ensured the Trojans brought home CIF Individual hardware for a fourth straight season.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
