Central Catholic’s Fenton rewarded with VOL doubles championship

Central Catholic senior Conor Fenton made a calculated play late in the Valley Oak League singles tournament.

Instead of competing in the third-place match, Fenton withdrew, forfeiting any chance at advancing to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III individual tournament.

In singles, that is.

Fenton saw an opportunity to make a deep postseason run with doubles partner Sam Nicholson and decided to save his legs for Thursday’s VOL doubles tournament.

“Could he have moved forward with singles? Yes, if he had beaten Manteca’s (Solmon Aniss),” Central Catholic coach Christy Perez said of her All-VOL performer. “But it all worked out in our benefit.”

Fenton and Nicholson are Central Catholic’s first league tennis champions, singles or doubles, since Perez took over the program in 2012.

Perez said she warned Fenton before he made his final decision on Tuesday.

“If we do this,” she said, “you better dig deep and get the result you’re looking for.”

The duo began the doubles tournament Thursday as the No. 1 overall seed, but nothing came easy.

Fenton and Nicholson had to survive a sticky second-round match with Sierra’s Laic Beugre and Kyle Banks, 8-6, and then dropped the first set against Manteca’s Kyle Thornburg and Si Hao Tang in the semifinal.

Fenton and Nicholson rallied for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.

In the final, they beat Kimball’s Ivan Acosta and Josh Linsangan in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5.

Third place will be settled Monday when Manteca’s Thornburg and Tang will face teammates Yok Eyh Ma and Dhillon Patel.

The VOL will send its top three singles and double teams to the Sac-Joaquin Section D-III individual tournament May 5-6 at Johnson Ranch Racquet Club in Roseville.

The Raiders will also compete in the D-III team tournament as the VOL’s No. 3 seed. That bracket will be filled by the top three teams from the VOL, Western Athletic Conference and Tri-County Conference. Matches begin May 2.

Fenton was joined on the All-VOL team by MVP Garrett Chun of Kimball, the singles champion; Kimball singles runner-up Logan Le; and Aniss.

This story was originally published April 22, 2016 at 1:05 PM with the headline "Central Catholic’s Fenton rewarded with VOL doubles championship."