First-year Torrey Pines High School boys tennis coach Bruce Taub knew his team was playing the role of Goliath against St. Augustine’s David when the teams met Friday afternoon for the CIF San Diego Section Open Division championship.
The No. 1-seeded Falcons humbled sixth-seeded Saints 16-2 earlier this season. Universal Tennis Rating is the metric used to rank professional and amateur players. The Falcons boast eight players with a UTR higher than 7.0. Saints offers two.
“But if we can’t play one point at a time,” Taub said before the match, “no matter who the opponent is, complacency will set in.”
Turns out there was no complacency. Torrey clinched the title after two rounds of singles and doubles, Taub substituted his entire lineup for the third round so that all 18 players participated in the 12-6 victory.
About all 18 players taking part, Taub said: “I love it. It’s share the wealth. Everyone gets a sip at the fountain.”
The Falcons are 23-0 with the Southern California Regional Championships coming up next month. It was the Falcons’ 24th section championship, according to the San Diego Section record book. Only La Jolla with 39 has won more.
Torrey Pines’ last title came in 2019.
After losing in the Open Division semis to Bishop’s the past two years, the victory was sweet for No. 1 singles players Robert Freedman.
“These last two years have been tough. We’ve been in kind of rebuild phase,” said Freedman. “This year (it was) just bring it home, take the championship. It just makes it that much sweeter.”
Freedman and sophomore Andrew Li won both their singles matches. The doubles teams of William Kleege and Nile Ung, plus Alex Kreiss and Anirudha Rajesh Rao also went 2-0.
Taub sensed this team had a chance for perfection. Taking a page from former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, after selecting his team in February, Taub predicted the team’s record, wrote in on a yellow sticky pad and stuffed it an envelope.
He opened the envelope during the awards ceremony and the scrap of paper read “19-0, CIF Champs.”
At the time, Taub didn’t know the Falcons would play in the National High School All-American Tournament in March. The Falcons won that title with four wins.
How good is Torrey? Kevin Brown has been coaching high school tennis in the section for 37 years. He recalls only one team he thinks was better than this year’s Torrey Pines squad, a University of San Diego High School (now Cathedral Catholic) team from the late 1990s.
“They’re pretty special,” Brown said of the Falcons. “They’re incredible, just nails.”
“Coming from someone who spent his entire life around tennis, that means a whole lot,” said Freedman. “I’m very humbled by that.”
While St. Augustine (15-3) fell to the stacked Torrey Pines squad, it was a historic season for private all-boys school. Saints qualified for the Open Division for the fourth time. They lost in the first round the first three years. This year, they pulled off upsets of third-seeded Westview in the quarters and second-seeded Bishop’s in the semis.
“Incredibly proud,” said Saints coach Tim Golden. “We knew we had a good team and they exceeded all expectations. And they did it with a great togetherness.
“They’re a team, in all aspects, in a sport that’s often not about team.”
