CLAREMONT — The Palomares League’s remarkable boys tennis run came to an end Wednesday.
The league’s remaining three entries, Claremont singles player David James “D.J.” Brownlee and doubles team of Lance Lao and Mateen Ghafarshad, as well as the Ayala doubles team of Brandon Vu and Nikolas Abu-Whishah, fell in the semifinals of the CIF-SS individual championships at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
The biggest heartbreaker of the three was Vu and Abu-Wishah, who fell 7-6, 7-5 to the Anaheim Canyon doubles team of Steve Nguyen and Matias Almeida-Ponce. With the most enthusiastic group of supporters in attendance, the eye black-wearing duo vigorously reacted to winning big points. Vu and Abu-Wishah rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the second set only to fall short.
“I think at times we could’ve played more aggressively,” Vu said. “In a match that is that close, it’s just who plays the big points better.”
As is often the case in tennis, Vu, a junior and Abu-Wishah, a senior, did not play together before the league tournament.
“I knew we’d have good chemistry but I wasn’t expecting to make this kind of run,” Abu-Wishah said. “Brandon plays a lot of doubles; I don’t really play doubles. I think we got to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses really well. We adapted really quickly.”
The loss ended the high school career for Abu-Wishah, who will attend UCLA next year, but only as a student.
“It’s tough. We lost to a really good team. We got further than I expected. So I’m happy with it,” Abu-Wishah said.
Vu and Abu-Wishah finished second at Palomares League Finals to Lao and Ghafarshad. The hopes of an all-Palomares League doubles final were dashed a few minutes earlier Wednesday when Lao, a senior, and Ghafarshad, a sophomore, fell 6-3, 6-3 to top-seeded James MacDonald and Sanghyuk Im of University.
While they did not play together this year before the league tournament, Lao and Ghafarshad played together in last year’s CIF-SS doubles tournament, falling in the round of 32.
“It was a great experience to end my high school career,” said Lao, who will play at Riverside City College next year. “Mateen’s a great partner. He really held me up when times were tough for me.”
“One hundred percent it will help,” said Ghafarshad about what the experience will do for him next year. “I’m not going to have Lance as my partner. I”m not sure who I’m going to play with. I”m sure he’ll be good and I’m going to help him.”
Brownlee, a junior, fell in the semifinals to second-seeded Sean Ferguson of Peninsula, 6-3, 6-0, in a match that was closer than the score indicated.
“There’s always something that can be improved, but he just played a better game,” Brownlee said. “He was the better player.”
“DJ played today like he belonged,” Claremont coach Kathy Settles said. “He did not look like a fish out of water. He definitely played up to that level. I don’t think Sean walked away thinking that was an easy match.”
Last year, Brownlee teamed with Caleb Settles and lost in the round of 16 in the doubles competition. This time they each got the singles CIF experience.
“It definitely motivates me and shows me what I can do,” Brownlee said. “And I think it will help me work harder in the future.”
Kathy Settles enjoyed watching the success of the league’s players.
“We had three players (from Claremont) and five from our league all together, the most from any league in Southern California and that’s phenomenal for us,” she said.
