Giants Face Challenge From Red-Hot Tam For MCAL Tennis Title Thursday

After dominating the courts all season, Redwood High's boys tennis team faces just one last challenge to its crown.

The Giants (18-7) defeated Justin-Siena 6-3 in Tuesday's Marin County Athletic League semifinals to clinch a championship showdown. Redwood, the regular season champion, hosts Tam today at 4 p.m. in the MCAL playoff finals.

Giants coach Paul Markowitz gives a lot of the credit to his No. 1 doubles team of John Hansen and Cale Van Brunt, who have been nearly perfect this season.

It wasn’t the best of starts for the 2012 Tam High boys tennis team, but it’s certainly setting up for a big finish.

The Red-tailed Hawks topped Branson 5-4 Tuesday in a nearly four-hour match to advance to the championship.

Head coach Bill Washauer said he was thrilled with his team’s resiliency after some last-minutes shifts due to an ankle injury to Noah Jaffe, one half of the Hawks’ undefeated No. 2 doubles squad.

With the teams knotted at 4 wins apiece, the match came down to Tam's No. 1 singles player Brendan Austin upset of Alex Brenner 6-2, 3-6, 10-8.

“He certainly knew that it was something he could do, but he was sick as a dog,” Washauer said. “It was very impressive.”

The win over Branson continued the Hawks’ second-half roll after they stumbled out of the gate with consecutive MCAL losses to Branson and Redwood. They’ve since rattled off a near-perfect stretch, with only one loss to Piedmont High, on the way to a 20-4 record.

“We had a tough start and we regrouped, reset, reorganized and we’re finishing very strong,” Washauer said. “We had to modify our lineup on the fly and the boys really responded well.”

The Hawks head into its match with top-seeded Redwood having split the season series with the Giants. Washauer anticipates a fantastic battle.

“It’s going to be a very competitive final,” Washauer said. “They’re a good team. There will be a lot of very tight matches and every one of them is going to count.”