Quan Leads San Ramon Valley Tennis in Blowout

For many, tennis is all about technique. But for San Ramon Valley High's Kelson Quan, the mental aspect of the game is what gives him an edge.

Quan's philosophy proved true as he overcame a series of unforced errors in the middle of the second set to win his match at No. 1 singles against Spencer Germain 7-6, 6-3, and led the Wolves to a dominating 8-1 victory in an East Bay Athletic League match-up victory over Amador Valley Thursday night.

San Ramon Valley (4-0, 3-0 EBAL) usually splits their match-ups according to head coach Andy Lutz.

"I'm always happy with these guys good effort," Lutz said. "We've been even with them for several years."

The first set of Quan's match lasted a little under an hour. Germain, the Dons' No. 1, had a 4-3 lead before Quan charged back with two dominant games in which he only lost one service point and retook the set lead, 5-4.

Quan seemed poised to take the first set up 40-30, but Germain fought him off to force a tiebreaker which Quan won with ease.

"When I started to get a little more loose, I started getting a little better," Quan said. "Not really thinking who's there watching."

Germain fought his way back into the set after Quan pulled away to a 4-1 lead by closing it to 4-3. But Quan pulled away and froze Germain with a drop shot to finish the match.

"Kelson is such a quick net player," said Lutz. "It's just fun to watch that. We're just lucky to have him."

In what seemed to give Quan an edge, Germain seemed to lob a lot of floaters to Quan which the Wolves' leader often smashed for winners.

"You get that a lot. When you come to the net, you got to hit some overheads to get some points," Quan said.

Here's how the other seeds fared:

Singles:

No. 2, Brody Lee (SRV) defeated Raphael Flores 6-2, 6-7, 7-5.

No. 3, Joey Baker (SRV) def. Becker McGuire 6-3, 6-4.

No. 4 Sam Cole (SRV) def. Josh Briones 6-0, 6-1.

No. 5 Jake Lorentz (AV) def. Dan Shaw 6-4, 6-1.

No. 6 Vince Dagnese def. Sai Ramineni 7-5, 6-3.

Doubles:

No. 1 Taylor Atterbury-Riley Corbett def. Henry Boswell-T.R. Malko 6-3, 6-1.

No. 2 Kevin McKelligan-Matt Cuny def. Charlie King-Brian Yan 5-7, 6-1 (10-6)

No. 3 Conner Gurley-Thomas Murray def. Gunjan Yagnik-Grant Loud 6-4, 4-6, (10-7)