Dominance: Xavier Prep freshman cruises to Desert Empire League boys' tennis title
Freshman Caleb Kassinove of Xavier Prep was confident heading into the final day of Desert Empire League boys' tennis play Thursday, and that confidence turned into a dominant performance.
“Going into these matches I was very confident that I was going to win, but I knew there would probably be a few games I lose,” Kassinove said. “That’s just part of it.”
It was barely a part of it for Kassinove, who lost just two games in four sets Thursday in winning the DEL boys individual title. He beat teammate Kieffer Brown 6-1, 6-0 in the finals at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Kassinove produced the same score in his semifinal match against Parker Cupina of La Quinta earlier in the windy afternoon.
The doubles finals was also a one-school affair, this time for Palm Desert High School. Senior Bhargon Jakkaraja and junior Dilen Kakar won the league title with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Ashkon Siami and Sanjay Thunga.
Finalists in both singles and doubles advance to CIF-Southern Section postseason play.
Conditions for the semifinals and finals were difficult, with dust on the courts from the strong winds that affected the desert throughout the day. But the conditions and the opponent didn’t slow down Kassinove on his way to becoming the first boys' individual tennis champion in Xavier Prep history.
“As a coach I am extremely proud of both of my players,” Xavier Prep head coach Marcelo Lopez said. “They played a heck of a match. They have been here since 1 o’clock, so it has been a long day (two matches). I’m very excited for both of our players because now they get to move on individually.”
The singles final was a match of contrasting styles, with the junior Brown being the big hitter while Kassinove was a more consistent player without quite the same power on his strokes.
“Against someone like Kieffer, he hits a very big ball, but the thing is he can’t do that for a 30-ball rally," Kassinove said. "I just knew if I got the ball back and I hit it to a point where he couldn’t slam it, then I would probably win the point."
Kassinove and Brown each held serve to open the match, but Kassinove then won the final 11 games to take the title.
“He had a pretty good game plan coming into this match,” Lopez said of Kassinove. "I think he showed that he is very consistent and with his tournament experience, he just came out and showed that.”
In his semifinal, Brown raced to a 6-0 win in the first set against David Kang of Palm Desert, then had to rally to take the second set 7-6.
In doubles, Kakar and Jakkaraja fought hard in the first set against their teammates Siami and Thunga, then eased away for the league title win. Jakkaraja said it wasn’t difficult to be in a final against teammates
“Not at all. We have been doing this for years,” Jakkaraja said.
Kakar said the team victory was in part due to chemistry.
“We’ve known each other for so long, we practically know what we are thinking,” Kakar said.
Jakkaraja said the team’s serving might have been the key to the semifinal and final wins Thursday. In the semifinals, Kakar and Jakkaraja defeated Leyton Hiddleston and Luke Macwan of Xavier Prep 6-3, 6-1. In the other semifinal, Siami and Thunga beat G.J. Elias and Angel Sanchez of Rancho Mirage.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Caleb Kassinove loses just two games in two matches to win DEL tennis title
