A high school junior, he’s No. 171 in the country in tennis. Now he’ll play the best.

Modesto High junior Coby McCaig will be heading to the National Hard Court Tennis Championships Aug. 4-13 in Kalamazoo, Mich., thanks to his recent run of play in two other tournaments.

“I’m pretty excited,” said McCaig, who is ranked No. 171 nationally by the United States Tennis Association in the boys 16-year-old division. “I’m looking forward to playing in a new atmosphere – I’ve never been to Michigan – and it’s one of the biggest tournaments I’m ever going to play in.”

The Hard Court Championships features the top 226 players in country and is considered the biggest tournament of the season in terms of college recruiting.

“It’s a little nerve-wracking,” said McCaig about the prospect of performing in front of so many college scouts. “But nerves are something I always overcome. Once It’s something I feel more before the matches. Once I step on the court, it’s just me playing my game.”

The 5-foot-7, 140-pound McCaig went 5-0 at a National Level 3 tournament in Anaheim July 8-11, reaching the Boys 16 final against New York’s Josh Williams, who won 6-3, 6-3. In the semifinal, McCaig defeated Los Angeles’ Alexander Petrov, ranked No. 59 in the nation, 6-2, 6-3.

By virtue of his performance in Southern California, McCaig qualified for the Level 1 National Clay Court Championships in Delray Beach, Fla., July 15-22.

In a first-round match against Floridian Harrison Gold, ranked No. 60 in the nation, McCaig bolted to a 6-4, 4-1 lead by eventually lost the second set in a tiebreaker. McCaig was up 3-0 in the decisive third set by fell 7-5. He then won four consecutive matches in the loser’s bracket – one was a 6-4, 6-2 over Williams in a rematch of the Anaheim final – before being eliminated 6-1, 6-0 by Florida’ s Russell Berdusco, ranked 100^th in the nation.

McCaig won the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I singles title as a freshman at Modesto High and was The Bee’s Player of the Year in 2016. He fell to Folsom’s Cethan Swanson in the 2017 D-I finale. His older brother, Ceres High’s Nolan McCaig, won the D-II final in 2017.

“I haven’t given (2018) much thought,” said McCaig. “But, obviously, I’d like to win it all like I did in my freshman year. It was disappointing to lose last year, but this should be the year for me to win the whole thing.”

This story was originally published July 28, 2017 at 3:38 PM with the headline "A high school junior, he’s No. 171 in the country in tennis. Now he’ll play the best.."