All too familiar

Porterville High boys tennis coach Pat McCusker has produced a prime winning commodity in 37 years at the Panthers’ helm.

Twenty East Yosemite League crowns and a recent string of five in a row are registered under his impressive resume.

But in nearly four decades of coaching, one notch has stubbornly eluded McCusker’s colorful belt: a Valley championship.

At home Tuesday against Garces, Porterville had the opportunity it had been waiting for.

After mounting a brilliant comeback late in the match, Porterville was stung by the worst case of déjà vu.

The Panthers, who stumbled to Garces in last year’s Division 3 title match, were humbled by the pesky Rams once again.

Top-seeded Porterville fell 5-4 to second-ranked Garces in a tight, down-to-the-wire affair.

“It just wasn’t meant to be today,” McCusker said.

Behind 4-2 after singles play, it was gut-check time for the Panthers.

They found themselves in a situation where they had to capture all three doubles matches to win.

And they nearly did so.

C.J. Cobarruvias-Jade Perry defeated Zac Bohening-P.J. Atchison 2-6, 6-1 (10-8) and Nick Galusha-Jeremy Eggman prevailed 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) over Dominic de Pancier-Houston Hosey.

Porterville had crept from behind and knotted the score at 4-4. It all came down to a barn-burning showdown between Porterville’s Willy Woodmansee-Carlos Meraz and Nick Jacobs-Ricky Phillips on Court 1.

After splitting the first two sets (7-6, 3-6), a tiebreaker was in store to determine the victor.

The Rams compiled a 3-0 cushion and stretched their lead to 5-1 before Woodmansee-Meraz sliced it to 6-3.

But all the strings suddenly came untied for Porterville’s senior partnership.

Jacobs smashed a shot Meraz was unable to return, Phillips slammed the ball over everything and Phillips slid a shot past an outreached Woodmansee to go ahead 9-3.

Porterville was on the razor’s edge now, and there was simply too much ground to cover.

Meraz double-faulted to hand Garces game, set, match and championship.

“They just jumped out faster than we did,” Woodmansee said. “They were hot.”

If not for an admirable recovery in the first set, however, Woodmansee-Meraz would have never been in position to win.

They trailed for the first 11 points, but eventually chipped away to tie the score at 6-apiece.

Deadlocked at 7-7, Jacobs committed two unforced errors, which granted the Panthers duo a 9-7 victory.

“We thought we had it,” Woodmansee said. “It sucks to lose.”

The Rams forced Porterville into comeback mode from the beginning by capturing 4 of 6 singles matches.

Jacobs topped Woodmansee 6-3, 6-3; Bohening beat Meraz 6-4, 6-4; Phillips cruised by Cobarruvias 6-4, 6-1 and Daniel Yi slipped away with a 6-4, 2-6 (6-10) win over Andrew Chung.

The Panthers’ Brogan Nordness escaped from Sean Halpin 6-3, 0-6 (11-9) and Perry eked out a 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) tie-breaking victory over Atchison.

Perry, in Set 2, was tripped up after he and his opponent battled through five deuces. But Perry showed his grit and outgunned Atchison in the tiebreaker.

“[Atchison] started stepping up, but everyone reminded me to have fun with it,” Perry said. “I just had to remember not to lose my cool.”

Porterville finished its season as league champions with a spotless 12-0 record and was 23-3 overall.

But the question still remains: Will McCusker and next year’s squad clear the final hurdle and land the evasive Division 3 Valley title?

“Who knows?” McCusker said. “God willing, I’ll still be alive.”

-- Contact Alex K.W. Schultz at 784-5000, Ext. 1049 or aschultz@portervillerecorder.com.