Eagles break 26-year losing streak to Placer

LOOMIS - It was fitting that former Placer High boys tennis coach Rad McCord was on hand Monday afternoon, watching rival Del Oro break a 26-year curse he helped put on the Golden Eagles.With both teams and a large contingent of tennis fans watching, the match came down to Del Oro's Tony Bulich and Placer's German foreign exchange student Patrick Pfisterer in the No. 1 singles match.Bulich and Pfisterer exchanged powerful forehand attacks that would've made Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras proud as it came down to the Eagles' and Hillmen's top two players to decide the match. Bulich was a little sharper as he bested the German, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 to give Del Oro it's first victory over Placer in two decades, 5-4. "It feels great. The team won the match, I was just trying to stop 26 years of losing to Placer," Bulich said after the match. "It feels good to beat Placer."The match lived up to all the hype as the Eagles' boys coach, Jen Isaac, who also coaches the Placer girls tennis team, faced off with her husband, Placer boys tennis coach Tom Isaac. The victory is an exclamation point on a breakout season that has the Eagles tied with Hillmen and Rocklin for first place in the Sierra Foothill League at 5-1. "We knew it was going to be a tough one," said Tom Isaac, whose team had won five straight matches by a score of 9-0 before Monday's defeat. "They're tougher mentally and tougher physically, and that puts them in a dead heat with us."The win was especially sweet for Del Oro as it rebounded from a tough 5-4 loss to Rocklin recently that served as motivation for the showdown with the Hillmen. "I told them to play with heart and put everything on the table," Jen Isaac said. "If you're going to go down, you're going to put everything on the table."In No.Placer/Del Oro TennisEagles 5Hillmen 4Today: Placer at Rocklin; Roseville at Del Oro, both matches at 3:30 p.m. 3 singles, Ted Wyatt had one of the more entertaining matches of the afternoon as he held on to beat a mentally-tough Tristan Nichols, 7-5,7-5. In No. 6 singles, Evan Kolar was victorious over Placer's Phillip Barnett, 6-4, 6-2 and the Eagles' No. 2 doubles duo of Nick Palma and Nick Root defeated Joel Ross and Josh Borg, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. And freshmen Tim Adkins and Matt Winger got redemption as they defeated Brian Swart and Jon Schmidt 6-2, 6-2. Adkins and Winger had come up short against Rocklin that cost the Eagles the win. Placer's Andy Sugg beat Augie Klein 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 singles and Taylor Reese won his No. 4 match over Mike Silva 7-5, 6-4. Hudson Arnold won the No. 5 singles match for Placer 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 over Casey Warner and the No. 1 doubles team of Chris Warmuth and Matt Chun defeated Mitch Bezaire and Cody Gragg, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. While all the matches were equally important and had great bearing on the outcome, it was the showdown between Bulich and Pfisterer that proved the most riveting. "I would've paid money to watch that match," Jen Isaac said. In the first set Pfisterer was peppering Bulich with hard, flat shots that put him on the defensive, causing Bulich to change his strategy in the second set. "I tried to put him on his heels by hitting the corners of the court to move him around," Bulich said. It worked, forcing Pfisterer to change his shots, and causing him to miss some opportunities. "We expected a very tight match, but I was surprised by him (Bulich)," Tom Isaac said. "I didn't expect that to happen."Monday's match was a make-up contest due to an earlier rainout between the two. Del Oro and Placer face other SFL competition today as the Eagles host Roseville and the Hillmen look to rebound against Rocklin on the road.