Merced Union High School District

The Merced High boys tennis team stood up against the fence, watching their teammates compete in the final three doubles matches. After securing victories in four singles matches the Bears were one win away from winning their first section title since 1991. They were cheering on their teammates after every point, hoping to give them that extra lift to carry them to the finish line.

 

When Merced’s No. 1 doubles team of Carlos Montanez and Gagandeep Singh emerged victorious in a third-set tie-break, their teammates let out a huge roar and rushed the court. For the first time in 35 years the Merced boys tennis team was bringing home a blue banner. The No. 2 seeded Bears (14-5) defeated No. 4 Kennedy 6-3 to win the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship at the University of the Pacific on Thursday.

 

“We went through every single emotion known to mankind,” said Singh as they battled their way to the win that clinched the section title. “I lowkey want to cry,” said Montanez. “Let’s not cry on the court,” Singh joked.

 

One-by-one every member of the Bears tennis team took their turn to get a photo holding the blue banner. “I don’t think there is another team on the planet Earth that has better chemistry and the heart that this team has,” said senior Ian Hansford. “You won’t find a team that is really so close and I think that contributes to our success. If there was going to be any team that would do it, it was going to be us. We really deserve this, we worked hard for this.”

 

The Bears took the upper hand in the match early as their top four singles players James Tetangco, Hansford, Alejandro Martinez and Parth Mishra all won their matches. Merced had a 4-2 lead with the three doubles matches all in action. The Bears needed just one win to clinch the section title.

 

“This Kennedy team is super, super deep,” said Merced coach Keith Tetangco. “We knew we had the advantage at the top of the lineup. But this run (Kennedy) had, we knew that all their guys would battle. I hoped one of our teams would get a big lead, but once all the double matches started, I knew it was going to be a battle.”

 

The Bears players stood outside the fence, living and dying with each point as they tried to will their teammates to victory. “It was so scary,” said James Tetangco. “I’m not going to lie, but Gagan and Carlos have been clutch for us all year.” Hansford agreed. “Oh my goodness, it was as stressful as it can get, but also exciting,” he said. “There were so many emotions. It’s just a blessing to be in a place with people I care so much about.” 

Montanez and Singh spent most of their four-year tennis careers squaring off against each other in practice. So it was a unique experience that they were paired together in a match that had so much riding on the outcome. “Super stressful,” Montanez said. “We’re usually rivals, I guess. We’re always playing singles against each other throughout our four years of tennis. To play with him was really amazing.”

 

Montanez and Singh lost the first set 7-6, but then rebounded with a 6-1 win in the second set to force the tie-breaker. The Bears team then won the tie-breaker 10-7 to set off a wild celebration. As the match went on Montanez and Singh felt more confident. “It’s just a mental game at that point,” Singh said. “The longer you can stick in there the better it is for you.” Merced’s No. 2 doubles team of Connor Scheulser and Alex Hampton also won for good measure.

 

The Bears tennis team became the fourth Merced High team to win a section title this school year, joining boys and girls water polo and flag football. The tennis team made the section title match three years ago when these seniors were freshmen. This time they’re bringing home the blue banner. 

 

“It’s amazing,” Keith Tetangco said. “It’s a long time coming, thinking about these guys when they were freshmen and knowing the potential they had.” His son James agreed. “It’s awesome,” he said. “We were here our freshman year and we lost. We were matched up against a team we couldn’t really compete with so to come back here and it being a really close match, it feels really good to win.”

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.