5.14.2022 – The Menlo boys’ tennis team defended its CCS Championship with a 4-3 victory over Cupertino on Friday at The Bay Club-Courtside.
It is the 17th title in program history and third in the past four seasons. The Knights hold a 24-1 mark, heading onto CIF-NorCals, which begin with a play-in match Tuesday, quarterfinals and semifinals on Friday and finals Saturday at Broadstone Racquet Club in Folsom.
In a down-to-the-wire finish, the top-seeded Knights got on the board first when the No. 3 doubles team of Nik Khuntia and Rohan Shah rolled 6-0, 6-1. Alex Volgin and Rishi Jain - also seniors followed suit with a 6-2, 6-4 win.

“Once we all clinched, we all felt a surge of joy and adrenaline,” Jain said. “We stormed the court in a moment of celebration and it was definitely a memorable experience.”
The last time the Knights went to NorCals was in 2019 when they were finalists to Bellarmine. The following two seasons, there were no NorCal due to COVID-19. Now, the Knights aim to make up for lost time.
“We’re not done yet. We need to have a solid week of practice in order to best prepare,” Jain said. “There hasn’t been NorCals for the past couple years, so it would be amazing to bring the trophy back to Menlo as a parting gift to (Coach Bill Shine).
Second-seeded Cupertino won at No. 2 doubles and No.1 singles in hard-fought matches before Menlo came back with consecutive singles wins. At No. 2 singles, freshman Cooper Han gave Menlo a 3-2 edge, and minutes later, on the neighboring court, senior Soren Sutaria clinched the win.

“I actually watched Soren clinch from my court because he finished just a couple minutes after I did, so after he won I ran over as fast as I could to celebrate with the guys,” Han said. “It was the coolest experience and I had never felt so hyped because this is my school tennis experience.”

CCS Championship
at Bay Club-Courtside 

Menlo 4, Cupertino 3
Kim (C) d. Evan Burnett 6-2, 7-5; Cooper Han (M) d. Hathalia 6-2, 6-4;Lee (C) d. Mick Tamas 3-6, 7-6 (10-5). Soren Sutaria (M) d. Hsieh 6-2, 6-3. Doubles – Alex Volgin-Rishi Jain (M) d. Skikantan-Palmer 6-2, 6-4; Chung-Anand (C) d. Tudor Braicu-Nishan Rajavasireddy 6-4, 6-2; Nik Khuntia-Rohan Shah (M) d. Hikida-Atre 6-0, 6-1.