The Langley Saxons aimed higher and reached their target this season by winning a state championship.
The Saxons (17-2) won the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 state boys tennis tournament with a 3-0 record, defeating Freedom (South Riding), 5-1, in the title match in Newport News.
Last season, Langley was disappointed when the team lost in the first-round of the 6D North Region tourney and fell well short of qualifying for states.
“The players all thought we could do better this year, so we should shoot higher,” said Langley coach Jack Porter, who has been at the helm for 15 seasons.
The state championship was Langley’s seventh in program history, but the first since 1994. The Saxons also have finished second seven times, including four straight runner-ups from 2012 to 2015.
“It was about our time,” Porter said.
A big factor in Langley’s postseason success was getting No. 1 singles player Nikola Galov healthy and participating in the playoffs. The sophomore missed much of the regular season with a hip injury.
“Having him was the whole key,” Porter said. “Once we had him in the lineup, we were in position to win because everyone was in place where they should be in our lineup. We couldn’t have won the state otherwise. We would always keep asking him if his hip was OK, and he said it was.”
Playing No. 2 singles was junior Aditya Gupta. Number three in the lineup was sophomore Edward Park. In the fourth position was sophomore Karl Eid, with sophomore Cyrus Bajoghli No. 5 and freshman Beckett Brown No. 6.
Galov and Gupta played the No. 1 doubles position, where they also won the Class 6 state boys double championship, as well, with a 2-0 record. The pair won the 6D North Region tournament doubles crown prior to the state tourney.
Eid and Park played No. 2 doubles for Langley, with Bajoghli and senior Ian Starban at the third spot. Starban was the lone senior on the young team.
In the state semifinals, Langley defeated Thomas Jefferson, 5-3, after downing W.T. Woodson, 5-1, in the first round.
Prior to the state competition, Langley won the region team championship with a 3-0 record. The Saxons defeated South Lakes in the first round, Madison in semifinals, then McLean, 5-1, in the title match. McLean was the only team to defeat Langley this season, in two regular-season matches by 6-3 scores. Galov did not play in those two meetings.
McLean lost to Jefferson, 5-0, in a first-round state-tournament match, finishing the season with a 16-2 overall record and as Liberty District champions.
NOTE: Former professional tennis player Mikael Pernfors of Sweden, a family friend of Porters, visited Langley during the region tournament to hold an informal clinic for the team. Pernfors played in one Grand Slam tennis final during his career, losing to Ivan Lendl in the title match of the 1986 French Open.
