Father of Beyer tennis star plans to appeal loss in section final

The Sac-Joaquin Section Division I singles tennis final that was settled with three sets last Friday may not be over.

The father of former section champion Ryan Lewis of Beyer High is protesting the outcome.

Lewis became the first boys player from the Stanislaus District to win a Division I singles title in 16 years when he romped to the 2015 crown. However, his bid to repeat was stopped short by Modesto Metro Conference rival Coby McCaig of Modesto High, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2, at Johnson Ranch Racquet Club in Roseville.

The loss was Lewis’ first in two seasons on the high school circuit.

“I need to understand that one match doesn’t define who I am,” Lewis said.

Still, this one has been tough to let go of, much less accept.

Fredrick Lewis sent tournament director Dale Eckenburg an email on Wednesday, stating his displeasure with the treatment his son received and the lack of rest between the semifinal and final matches. A copy of the email was obtained by The Modesto Bee.

According to section Director of Communications Will DeBoard, an email from a parent isn’t considered a formal protest. An appeal must come from a school administrator. Even then, it’s unlikely the section would overturn a result nearly a week old.

On Thursday, Michael Coats, director of educational services with Modesto City Schools, said the school would not file a formal request. Undeterred, Frederick Lewis hopes to speak with Beyer High administrators about an appeal.

“I (sic) writing to tell you that we are very dissatisfied on how you treated Ryan at the tournament. While he was on the ground in pain you are scolding him about rules you were not even sure about,” Frederick Lewis wrote in the email. “What made matters worse is you insisted he play the next match in what turned out to be 45 minutes later instead of the 2 hour required rest time. We reviewed the USTA rules and confirmed what I just stated. We would like to formally protest the results of the match. You had no business not given (sic) Ryan the required 2 hours rest he needed.”

The “recovery rule” states that players who have played a match in which the “format is two out of three standard tiebreak sets or more, the referee shall offer a rest of two hours before the player’s next singles match,” according to the USTA national and Northern California rulebook, which governs CIF postseason tournaments.

According to the section, Lewis was given 75 minutes to recover between matches. However, rest didn’t become an issue until after Lewis’ loss to McCaig.

Lewis played a contentious, four-hour match with Napa’s Daniel Mateescu in the semifinal.

Emotions flared on and off the court, and the intensity and length of the match slowly took its toll on Lewis, a two-time MMC champion. Lewis needed three medical timeouts during the match, a major source of frustration for Mateescu’s camp, and nearly withdrew from the tournament with cramps.

Lewis eventually won, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2, stopping Mateescu’s season in the semifinal round for the second straight year.

When asked why he continued in the tournament, Lewis said he was confident he could beat McCaig, even without his legs beneath him.

“I had a feeling I’d still win,” he said.

If Lewis was in pain, McCaig wasn’t going to show him mercy. The freshman dominated his rival one week after suffering a convincing straight-sets loss in the MMC singles championship at Johansen High.

McCaig insists fatigue didn’t play a role in the section final. He points to Lewis’ complete domination in the second set. McCaig said Lewis was simply beaten by the better player.

“Based on the way he played the second set? I doubt it,” said McCaig, referring to whether fatigue was an issue in the outcome. “He looked fine to me.”

Lewis begs to differ.

“I couldn’t play because of my legs,” Lewis said. “I could barely bend my knees when I was serving. It was all bad.”

Lewis’ frustrations are magnified by the fact that McCaig didn’t have to play a semifinal match. The tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, Arjith Jayaraman of Granite Bay, was disqualified after failing to show up in time for the match at noon. Jayaraman was taking an exam.

While Lewis labored and battled cramps throughout his semifinal match, McCaig watched and waited.

Modesto coach Scott Mitchell insists McCaig’s fitness had already been tested that week with matches in Sac-Joaquin Section team tournament, including a victory over Armijo’s Derek Wadsworth, the D-I runner-up in 2015.

“It really didn’t matter,” McCaig said, “because I was ready to play any match.”

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Father of Beyer tennis star plans to appeal loss in section final."