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Sierra in reach of 2nd straight SJS title after rolling past River Valley
River Valley-Sierra boys tennis
Sierra’s Sparsh Beedi follows through on his forehand shot during the No. 1 doubles match against visiting River Valley on Wednesday. - photo by JONAMAR JACINTO/The Bulletin

 Sierra will get to defend its Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV championship today but will have to take its longest trip as a team to do so.

The top-seeded Timberwolves routed No. 5 River Valley at home Wednesday, 8-1. The semifinal was originally scheduled for Tuesday but pushed back a day at the request of the Falcons (16-6) from Yuba City.

Sierra (15-3) now faces No. 2 seed Roseville (17-5), which essentially has home-court advantage at Johnson Ranch Racquet Club in Roseville. The match starts at 3 p.m. The Division III final between Nevada Union and Woodcreek will take place simultaneously.

Sierra No. 1 player Brady Alves doesn’t mind the travel. He is already familiar with Johnson Ranch, having played there the past two seasons for the SJS Individual Tournament. He’ll return May 19 for a third individual tourney appearance.

“I’m thrilled that it’s over there,” Alves said. “It’s a beautiful facility and somewhere I am familiar with. I think we play great on the road, so I’m excited to go up there and get another chance to compete for another section championship.”

The Timberwolves got to host the 2024 D-IV section final on campus and have played 14 of their 18 dual matches this season at home, where they are 22-2 over the past two years.

Alves is among the seven battle-tested seniors in Sierra’s top 12. He took care of River Valley’s Jorge Luna in the battle of 1s.

Ashton Hillard made quick work of Emanuel Gonzalez at No. 2 singles, 6-1, 6-1. No. 3 Oliver Naven swept Wade Lee 6-1, 6-3, No. 5 Harshith Kumar downed Cruz Akay 6-3, 6-2, and No. 6 Ryan Alves dispatched Shivan Joshi, 7-5, 6-0.

River Valley got its lone win from No. 5 Ryan Squires, who fended off Santiago Franco, 6-3, 7-5.

The Timberwolves dominated all three doubles matches. The top tandem of Hasnain Ali and Sparsh Beedi handled Joaquin Cruz and Min Kye Lee, 6-1, 6-2. Zain Ali and Sid Gopendran won the No. 2 matchup 6-1, 6-1 against Orrin Scarfe and David Vuniwai. No. 3 Noah Brum and Alex Rey Rosario capped off the day with a 6-0, 6-2 drubbing of Emmanuel Soto and Abelardo Zarate.

“Our goal was to get back to the championship, and the guys did the work to make it happen,” Sierra coach Dan Duke said. “A lot of credit goes to coach Jacob (Naven), he’s the greatest assistant coach. He has really helped a lot to improve their game.”

Duke expects a competitive match in the championship after his Timberwolves trounced their first two postseason opponents. They opened up with an 8-1 win over Beyer last Thursday, May 1.

Sierra’s semifinal opponent is very familiar with the other finalist. That’s because Roseville split its two Foothill Valley League contests against River Valley, each of them ending with 5-4 decisions. The Tigers finished FVL play in third place.

Roseville beat No. 7 Manteca 6-3 in the first round, and No. 6 El Capitan 8-1 in the semifinals.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” Duke said. “We have an early start, and most of these guys have not played at that facility. It’s a great facility, and it’s (Roseville’s) home, but if we play well, we feel like we could beat them wherever we play them. Tennis courts are tennis courts.”