Cate boys tennis shined in the first rounds of the Tri-Valley League Individual Tournament on Saturday at Cate School in Carpinteria.
Kakeru Hirofuji of the Rams punched his ticket to the singles championship, while the Cate duo of James He and Kenny Wang will compete for the doubles title. Both finals will be on Monday at 3:30 p.m. back in Carpinteria.
Hirofuji pulled out a third-set tiebreaker over Dunn’s Grantas Pikunas in the semifinals when Pikunas could not finish the grind of a match. Hirofuji will now face off with Drew Railey of St. Bonaventure in the finals on Monday.
In doubles, He and Wang earned a 6-4, 6-2 victory in the semifinals over Laguna Blanca’s Jaden Yanez and Sterling Fisher.
The Cate pairing will take on Foothill Tech’s Dylan Files and Greg Davis, who pulled out a dramatic semifinal win over Cate’s Kaden Greene and Kendrick Suen, 5-7, 6-4, 12-10.
Hirofuji and the duo of He and Wang have automatically qualified for the CIF-SS Individuals Tournament with their performance.