It was sweet redemption for tennis players across the Santa Clarita Valley last week at the Paseo Club in Valencia.
The 2024 Foothill League tennis finals had it all, with redemption, newcomers battling veterans and of course high-level tennis.
Valencia duo Lauclan Bohrnsen and Vedant Khadiya brought home the doubles title after defeating the No. 1 West Ranch team of Kaden Sasaki and Eric Hwang, 5-7, 6-2 and 11-9.
The Viking duo lost in the league title match last season to Sasaki and his former partner but avenged the defeat and sent Khadiya, a senior, out as a league champ.
“We knew we were struggling,” Khadiya said in a phone interview. “We only ended up losing the first step by two points, which feels like a huge gap, but at the same time we knew we could come right back. We just had to fix our mistakes, really apply pressure and do the things we knew how to do best as a team.”
After dropping the first set, the two Vikings locked back in. Nearly every game went to deuce but Valencia was able to pull away and force the tiebreaker.
“I believe Vedant’s ability to maintain his mental and help me maintain my own was what brought us to the victory,” Bohrnsen said via text message. “It really ended up being a mental game towards the end.”
Khadiya whiffed an overhead midway through the final set but the Valencia senior wouldn’t let one mistake define his final league battle.
“At that point, you can collapse or you can just move right on and keep fighting and not let it get to you,” Khadiya said. “I think that was the biggest difference between this year and last year where we lost the finals. We never quit, we never feel like we’re gonna lose and we never let the pressure get to us. We knew what we had to do and we knew we could do it, and on top of all that we trust each other.”
In singles, West Ranch junior Valmont Robyn became the singles champion after taking down the Hart freshman phenom Nixon Liescheidt, 2-6, 6-4 and 10-8. The Hart singles star was undefeated in league on the year and had already bested Robyn twice this season. However, according to West Ranch coach Paul Orszag, the mental game played a huge part in the finals match.
“(Robyn) lost to Nixon twice this year in our regular-season play so this was a big accomplishment for him to move up, assert himself and win the match,” Orszag said in a phone interview. “Just like anything else at this age, most of the game is mental. Val has all the strokes, all the ability. It was a question of him asserting himself mentally and taking it to Nixon.”
The singles champion missed all of last season with an injury but reached the pinnacle of Foothill League tennis, beating the title favorite.
Robyn defeated Hart’s Anthony Lipa and last season’s singles runner-up Ian Ramirez, of Castaic, to reach the finals. Liescheidt was nearly perfect throughout the tournament and wasn’t pushed past a 6-1 match until taking on Robyn.
Lipa took down West Ranch’s Jack Paige, 6-3, 6-2, in the third-place match.
Khadiya and Bohrnsen were comfortable and in control throughout the four-round tournament but were also tested in the semifinals against the Wildcats’ No. 2 team of Arav Shah and Ayush Doshi. The Valencia duo won the match, 7-5, 6-0, citing mentally locking in, the pair’s strength, as the reason for the flip in the second set.
“The second set is where I think our biggest strength came out. It was just mental,” Khadiya said. “Tennis is obviously a really mental game and I think that’s how we won the second set. They were fighting and a lot of games went to deuce. It showed as 6-0 on the score sheet but again, it was much closer than that.”
Shah and Doshi bounced back in the third-place match, beating Golden Valley’s Andrew Yoon and Rowan Andres, 4-6, 6-2, 10-6.
“(Doshi and Shah) are both very savvy, smart doubles players,” Orszag said. “I think they did themselves and their coach proud by getting third place.”
West Ranch won its fourth consecutive league title this season behind all-around strong team play. The team took just one loss in league this season to rival Valencia, the first Viking win over the Wildcats in years.
“The season overall went quite well for Vedant and I,” Bohrnsen said. “I think sweeping West Ranch when they played against Valencia the second time around was the highlight of the season. Beating our hardest opponent was a good day for us both, I believe.”
The Vikings’ No. 1 singles duo thrashed through league when playing alongside one another.
“We never really vocalize our chances as a team together,” Khadiya said. “We just go out there and play, and I think that’s the winning formula. It’s not worrying so much about the result that comes out of it. We know we can beat these teams but it’s not because we’re talented or anything. It’s because we know that we’ve worked hard and we’re mentally strong.”
The SCV stars will now look to take their next steps as a team or individuals in the CIF postseason throughout May.
