I-A TENNIS: Ong, Daulat lead Clark to fourth consecutive title
Christian Ong and Akshay Daulat had no idea three years ago that they would end up being a part of something special.
As freshmen, the two helped Clark win a state tennis title for the first time since 1979.
On Friday, Ong and Daulat finished a run of four consecutive Division I-A state championships by helping the Chargers to an 11-7 win over The Meadows in the title match at Darling Tennis Center.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Ong said.
Clark (15-0) won its 65th consecutive match and became the first boys tennis team to win four straight titles since Green Valley finished off a stretch of five straight crowns in 1999.
“The first year, it was amazing that we went to state, and after that, we realized we had a pretty good team and that maybe we could keep going back,” Daulat said. “We all know we are good players, and we know what we have to do. We’re like a family. We play not for the win but for our team.”
Ong and Daulat each was part of a doubles team that went 3-0 on Friday to help secure the win.
Daulat paired with Marcus Pasimio and won the team’s ninth point. Ong teamed with Simran Shah and captured the clinching 10th point.
“We’ve gotten lucky,” Clark coach Clarence Chun said. “It really helps whenever you get a talented freshman in, and they stay for four years, they’re the ones who perpetuate the program. There’s the tradition.”
Clark led 4-2 after one round, and when Trevor Pearl pulled out a tiebreaker in the second round, the Chargers had an 8-4 lead.
Michael Pasimio was 3-0 in singles for Clark, which won four straight titles from 1976 to 1979.
“We had a really good mindset today,” Ong said. “We were confident, but we weren’t overconfident.”
Alex Lanzkowsky and Nate Van der Post each went 2-1 in singles for the Mustangs (10-4).
GIRLS
The Meadows’ top two singles players and top two doubles teams have been through plenty of big matches.
Singles players Anuja Daulat and Abbigail Klein, and the doubles teams of Shalini Shah and Samantha Gondy, and Ava Frazier and Olivia Waysack came up huge in the Mustangs’ biggest match of the season.
Daulat and Klein each went 3-0 in singles, and the teams of Shah and Gondy, and Frazier and Waysack were 3-0 in doubles to help The Meadows to a 14-4 win over Faith Lutheran (14-4) in the I-A girls state final.
“This was one we really wanted to win, especially because they won it last year,” said The Meadows coach Frideric Prandecki, whose team fell to the Crusaders in last year’s state final but rebounded to win its third title in four years. “We knew this could go both ways.
“Our doubles came through big.”
Daulat’s win over Faith Lutheran No. 1 singles player Madison Foley helped the Mustangs take a 4-2 lead after one round.
“That was a big momentum shift,” Prandecki said. “Winning that round 4-2, that’s when we started to feel a little bit better.”
The Meadows stretched the lead to 8-4 after two rounds. Grace Nemec’s third-round win in singles gave the Mustangs (13-1) the clinching 10th point.
Contact reporter Bartt Davis at bdavis@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5230.