Rival denies Clovis North’s Meinert 3rd straight tennis title

Clovis North High School junior Daly Meinert went from a high to a low in Central Section tennis in the space of three days.

The high was helping the Broncos win their first section Division I boys team title on Thursday, knocking off division heavyweight Clovis West.

Saturday, Meinert was wearing the favorite’s crown in the section singles final in Wasco and was knocked off. The two-time defending section champ lost 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) to Garces’ No. 2-seeded Dylan Simonsen.

Clovis North won the section doubles championship with the No. 2-seeded team of Miles Hale and Stephen Pimentel beating the top seeds from Clovis West, Jacob Vander Beek and Taka Shin, 6-1, 7-6.

Simonsen, also a junior, is the only section opponent to beat Meinert in his three seasons. Meinert is 77-3 with losses to Simonsen on Saturday and in his freshman regular season.

He was bidding to become only the fifth three-time section champion in history, according to section historian Bob Barnett. There has never been a four-time champ.

On Saturday, Meinert led 5-3 in the third set and was serving to win the match. But he double faulted twice in the ninth game, when observers said it appeared that he began having trouble with leg cramps.

Meinert held serve for a 6-5 lead before Simonsen forced the tiebreaker. Meinert led again, 3-1, before Simonsen scored four consecutive points to take control.

Earlier, Simonsen rallied to reach the final with a 6-7, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Central Valley Christian’s No. 3 Bailey Gong. Meinert cruised past East Bakersfield’s No. 5 Kaleb Johnson 6-1, 6-0 in his semi. Gong claimed third place with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Johnson.

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 9:45 PM with the headline "Rival denies Clovis North’s Meinert 3rd straight tennis title."