By WILL HERNANDEZ | willhernandez27@gmail.com |

PUBLISHED: May 10, 2019 at 10:32 pm | UPDATED: May 10, 2019 at 10:33 pm

CLAREMONT >> San Juan Hills boys tennis player John Lyon hadn’t won a singles set in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 championship match against Mater Dei on Friday.

Against Jake Huarte and Tristen Van, the sophomore couldn’t get anything going. But in his final set against the Monarchs’ Matt Real, Lyon delivered the decisive point for the Stallions.

Lyon won his set against Real 6-4 and that helped the Stallions defeat Mater Dei 10-8, giving them the first CIF-SS tennis title in school history.

“Nine-nine ties are not fun, and we would have won on game count until John came through,” San Juan Hills coach Bruce Sanborn said. “It was such a delight to see two kids, probably scared to death, at the bottom of the lineup duking it out at the end. To have it come down to that was really a sight to see.”

The Monarchs (15-8), led by Huarte who completed a clean sweep in his three sets (6-0, 6-0, 6-0), took care of business in singles, winning six of nine sets against the Stallions (16-6).

Mater Dei coach Mike Moorewood made it clear that the Monarchs probably wouldn’t have tied the game at 6-6 had it not been for Huarte and the team’s tough singles group.

“He kept us in the ballpark,” Moorewood said of Huarte. “I think the kids were a little bit nervous in the first round and found their bearings and were able to at least tie it. … Once we got to 6-6, I think they started believing a little bit and that’s when it got really tight and close and unfortunately we came out on the short end a little bit.

“I’m very proud of my guys just getting this far,” Moorewood added. “San Juan Hills was fantastic. They were really good and we were fortunate just to be tied with them.”

Sanborn won the chess match against Moorewood by inserting sophomore Spencer Cinco and junior Julian Sanseverino into doubles, where the Stallions were able to win seven of nine sets.

The duo Cinco and senior Matt Fong won their three sets 7-5, 6-3, 7-5. Sanseverino and senior Scott Cole, the No. 3 doubles, won all three of their sets too, 6-0, 7-6 6-1.

“No one out there was expecting San Juan Hills to knock off the three teams (Orange Lutheran, Redlands East Valley and Mater Dei) that we did,” Sanborn said. “That’s obviously very satisfying for the kids and I’m just so happy for them.”