Meet Zak Bohegian, No. 1 singles player, and Jon Sharp, No. 3 singles player, ranked No. 2 in the doubles conference for the SRJC Tennis team.
Bohegian is now the No. 1 singles player on the team and its captain.
“He proved his leadership through his play, through his work ethic, and through his interactions with the team. I just made it official recently,” said SRJC tennis coach Jay Samonte.
Bohegian is originally from Corte Madera and Sharp is from Lodi. Both went to Sonoma State University last year. Bohegian red-shirted at SSU his freshman year and didn’t make the tennis team there this year, so he came to SRJC where he was needed more. Sharp went to SSU for two years and took a two-year break from tennis. He wanted to get back into it, so he came to SRJC. This is their first season playing doubles together.
“I think we both have really good volleys at the net. We mix it up a lot with our serves and our positioning,” Bohegian said. “We both have really good returns to come in behind their serves.”
They have both played the tennis for 15 years. It’s in their blood. Bohegian’s parents played tennis and Sharp’s grandparents played tennis as well.
The pair looks good going into the Big 8 Conference tournament, as they beat the No. 1 ranked American River College doubles team March 1. They later lost to ARC March 15. ARC ranks No. 1 over SRJC because of its better overall record.
Both Bohegian and Sharp agreed that American River College would be their toughest opponent if they play them in the tournament. Other tough opponents include Sierra College and Diablo Valley College.
“As long as we stay concentrated, we’ll be fine if we start off fast,” Sharp said.
“They have the chance to win the tournament, because they’ve already proven it,” said teammate Chase Sariaslani.
Coach Samonte agrees. “Every team they go up against, they’re ranked No. 1 doubles. They’ve pushed everybody, all the good teams. They had a really good win against the American River [College] No. 1 team [March 1],” Samonte said.
“You try to find combinations. Sometimes you can split it up where you have two even teams. I could have had those guys [Bohegian and Sharp] split up, have two decent teams. Maybe have a chance where both teams win,” Samonte said of his decision to put the two together. “Or put all your eggs in one basket and have a strong, strong team. I decided to do that. And it’s worked out. They definitely have a really good chance of making it to the finals, and possibly even winning the conference tournament, let alone qualifying for [the] Ojai [tournament].”
Unfortunately the pair lost their quarterfinals match 3-6, 4-6 to the No. 5 seed Kevin Valentine and Charlie LaSalle from American River College.
Bohegian and Sharp played well enough in doubles to qualify for the Ojai tournament where they will compete against top players from around the state.
The highlight of the Conference Tournament for SRJC is the upset victory of Drew Forlini of Sierra College by unseeded Long Vu 7-5, 7-5. Forlini was the No. 3 seed in the tournament.
Vu created the momentum for Sariaslani, who beat Scott Presnall of Shasta College after he eliminated Vu from the tournament following the upset.
Samonte expects both Bohegian and Sharp to return to the team next season.
“We’re going to be building around them. Hopefully get them some help so we can have people that push them, as well as them pushing other guys who come in,” Samonte said. “We’ll be looking at making a run at winning the Conference Title, taking it back.”
