Marriotts Ridge golf continues streak with sweep of River Hill to secure boys and girls county titles

As the lone senior on this year’s Marriotts Ridge golf team, Daniel Tuma took a moment Wednesday to pull his teammates aside before teeing off in a battle of undefeated programs against River Hill.

With the team county championship on the line — along with a winning streak in county play that dates back to 2013 — Tuma shared a similar message to the one that the upperclassmen passed on to him two years ago.

“I thought back to my sophomore year, there was a very similar season-ending tri-match against River Hill and Centennial with the same thing on the line. Justin [Allen] and Akash [Marakath] were the upperclassmen presence and they pulled us all together. Today, I gave [the team] my version of that,” Tuma said. “I told them to keep a level head, keep emotions the same whether it’s a good or bad shot and treat every hole like a clean slate.”

“It worked for us then, so I figured why not come out here with the same mentality.”

A one-hole-at-a-time mentality went a long way for the Mustangs at Fairway Hills, as the boys team prevailed 94-90 to win this year’s title and extend its county win streak to 83 matches in a row.

Jonathan Moon (25 points), Tuma (24), Sangmin Lee (23) and Neev Saraf (22) all did their part to continue the tradition.

“These kids have worked really hard, and it’s probably one of the most cohesive groups I’ve ever had. Pressure doesn’t seem to rattle them,” Marriotts Ridge coach Mark Dubbs said. “There were a couple nervous moments early in that first group, but Daniel and Sangmin settled in and finished strong. Then with my second group being a freshman and sophomore, I think not knowing what was on the line helped. It was just another round for them.”

While the Marriotts Ridge boys wrapped up another title, so did the Mustangs’ girls. The team outscored River Hill 74-56 to put the finishing touches on its own 6-0 campaign that secures the program its second straight county title.

Alana Alexander-Giles (25 points) led the way for Marriotts Ridge, followed by Lila Becker (22), Erin Jeong (18) and Morgan Swidersky (nine).

“The girls have been that solid all year,” Dubbs said. “Alana has been amazing with what she can do, and then the bond that she has with Lila has allowed her to kind of show her the ropes. Those two have set the tone for us all season.”

Alexander-Giles played in all six regular-season matches this fall and finishes with a scoring average of 27 points (even par). She is one of only two other girls golfers in county history to finish a season with a scoring average of par or better, joining Atholton’s Bryana Nguyen (2011 and 2013) and Marriotts Ridge’s Faith McIlvain (2018).

While Marriotts Ridge walked away with the team crowns, it was River Hill that had the low male and female individual scores Wednesday. Hawks sophomore Benjamin Siriboury fired an even-par round of 27 points to lead his team, while fellow sophomore Helen Yeung posted 26 points to lead the girls.

Siriboury made birdies on the fifth and seven holes to offset bogeys on the first and third. Yeung also birdied the fifth hole before making back-to-back bogeys on six and seven.

Both Siriboury and Yeung were named Player of the Year as freshmen during the shortened spring 2021 season.

The boys match was close throughout, with River Hill holding an advantage most of the way in the first pairing and Marriotts Ridge establishing control at the onset in the second group. And, while Tuma and Lee did end up losing their head-to-head showdown with Siriboury and Nate Deiuliis (23 points), there were some momentum-changing moments that went a long way down the stretch.

Lee closed his round with five straight pars after a slow start and Tuma sank a lengthy birdie putt from off the green on the eighth hole to close the Mustangs’ deficit.

That made the advantage that Moon and Saraf had too much to overcome for the Hawks. Moon’s round was highlighted by a birdie on the sixth hole, while Saraf made a birdie on No. 5.

River Hill got solid rounds from Collin Regan (21 points) and Mark Berg (19), but it simply wasn’t quite enough to keep up.

“They have a pedigree and they know how to win, so hats off to Marriotts Ridge. But I’m just happy that we showed up and put up a number,” River Hill coach Matt Graves said. “My big thing I talked to them about before the match was, ‘Let’s make them beat us.’ And I thought we did that. ... They were just the better team.”

All the players will now turn their focus to the District V Championship tournament on Monday at Hobbit’s Glen, where individuals and teams will attempt to qualify for states. Tuma expressed relief in accomplishing one of his main goals but acknowledged there’s still a lot to be done.

“Today was about passing that torch, continuing what all the seniors before me had done,” Tuma said. “Now we can put all our focus on counties, districts and states.”

Marriotts Ridge 94, River Hill 90 (BOYS)

MR (6-0): Moon 25, Tuma 24, Lee 23, Saraf 22.

RH (5-1): Siriboury 27, Deiuliis 23, Regan 21, Berg 19.

Marriotts Ridge 74, River Hill 56 (GIRLS)

MR (6-0): Alexander-Giles 25, Becker 22, Jeong 18, Swidersky 9.

RH (5-1): Yeung 26, Herrera 14, Sandhu 10, Mulchandani 6.

BOYS GOLF:

Atholton 37, Reservoir 37

A (2-3-1): Andrew Christiansen 14, Boston McKellar 9, Ivan Cho 7, West Peterson 7.

Re (0-5-1): Justin Gutierrez 25, Sean Kim 5, Jack Holmes 5, Luc Le 2.

GIRLS GOLF:

Reservoir 35, Atholton 18

Re (3-3): Riyana Patel 24, Payton Pullen 9, Kaitlyn Ro 2.

A (2-3-1): Saili Khorjekar 8, Cate Lee 5, Kavya Shah 3, Shreeya Thakre 2.

Don’t see scores or stats from your favorite team? Send results and any game information to Jacob Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com.