Catholic schools dominate state tennis tourney

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SALT LAKE CITY — Two juniors from Utah Catholic Schools duked it out during the final match at the state 3A boys singles tennis championship on May 10 at Liberty Park, ending when Juan Diego Catholic High School’s Keanau Lei Foc pulled out a 6:0, 6:1 victory over Judge Memorial Catholic High School’s Diego Garrido-Uson.

Judge Memorial CHS’ tennis program has a reputation as a powerhouse, while that of Juan Diego CHS is in a building mode, so Soaring Eagle coach Heather Foy freely admitted she was delighted to acquire a player of Foc’s caliber.

Foc, an international student from Tahiti, came to Foy’s attention last fall shortly after enrolling at Juan Diego. He went undefeated in regular season play and then dominated the state tournament before earning the title.

“The first time I watched him play, I knew we had, like, a champion,” Foy said. “He’s an incredible player.”

His serve is great, she said. “He’ll ace people all the time. He’s got good footwork; he’s got good spin. It’s something different than what we’ve had here.”

Foc’s opponent in the state championship game, Garrido, has been Judge’s top player for three seasons. This year he finished second in both the region and state, and improved his Universal Tennis Rating by almost two points.

“Diego had a really good season,” coach Tracey Valentine said. “He went undefeated in the region, except for Keanau [Foc], finished second in the region to Keanau, and then finished second to him at state.”

In the semifinals Garrido played Ogden’s Spencer Christensen, a senior. The match, which lasted more than three hours, left him fatigued but victorious with a final score of 6:7, 7:6, 7:5.

“That was his best battle of the season,” Valentine said. “That was just a really good mental challenge for him, probably his best complete match the entire season. And then he had about one hour break, and then he got to play Keanau.”

Although Foc won the final match in two sets, there were no hard feelings, Valentine said. “They’re friends, and it’s very friendly.”

Judge sophomore Ryan Witt also had a great season. At the state championship in third singles, he made it to the final match, where he lost to The Waterford School’s freshman Shiv Sondhi 6:7, 4:6.

Witt, who also lost to Sondhi in the region final, made it a goal to play the Waterford player in the final match and worked hard to improve this season and match, Valentine said.

“He came to practice every day, and it was like all we could do for us three coaches to keep him busy and moving and keep up with him during that week,” she said. “And then at the state tournament, in the semifinals, they were playing side by side, and they were kind of like jokingly back and forth, like, ‘See you in the finals.’ And in the finals, Ryan, he played a lot better than he did at the region tournament.”