Ripon Christian secured its first Sac-Joaquin Section coed tennis championship on Thursday, but not in the way the Knights had hoped.
That’s because their final-round opponent, top-seeded Colfax, forfeited the Division II final set for Thursday at Oak Park Tennis Center in Stockton. The Falcons were unable to field a full team for the match, with the majority of their players tending to other school obligations.
SJS Assistant Commissioner Will DeBoard collaborated with athletic directors at both schools for an alternate date, but any day after Thursday would not have worked out for Ripon Christian with its seniors graduating next week.
“In May, the calendar gets very crowded for kids, especially for seniors,” DeBoard said Thursday. “Colfax is an International Baccalaureate school, and more than half of the team had testing today. They also have a school event this evening, and that made (playing the final) today impossible for them to have a team.
“We did everything we could to make it happen. Ultimately, today was the day that the match was scheduled for — Ripon Christian was able to go, and Colfax wasn’t. This is the unfortunate end. I can’t imagine that either team is happy with something like this.
“You never want a section title to be determined this way. From the looks of it, it would have been a pretty good match.”
Colfax won the Pioneer Valley League championship and was 13-1 heading into the final.
Ripon Christian, the No. 2 seed, finished undefeated at 14-0 and won the Trans-Valley League championship in its first season back in since leaving for the Southern League in 2010-11. Ripon Christian also claimed the Riverbank Conquerors of the Court tournament title.
“Just absolutely so disappointed,” Ripon Christian coach Melody de Abreu said. “You just don’t want to end your season, and especially for a section championship, like this. We have had a solid season.”
Peter Vander Meulen and Derek Meester finished undefeated as RC’s No. 1 boys doubles team, and they’re among the five Knights who qualified for the SJS Individual Tournament that will take place next Monday and Tuesday at Oak Park. The tandem won’t be able to compete, however, with Vander Meulen joining the rest of his classmates on their senior trip.
No. 1 boys singles player Drew Meester and No. 2 girls Kora Harris are participating as a mixed doubles pair, and Tatum Sonke enters as a solo act. Both girls went 11-1 in TVL duals, and No. 2 male Alton Mensonides was undefeated.
“It’s not easy to go into a new league unsure of what we’re going to be up against, but they figured it out and got those wins,” de Abreu said.
Ripon Christian advanced to its fifth section title match, losing its previous appearances in 1985, 1988, 1989 and 2022.
