Tennis stars Parikh, Lee collide again — perhaps for the final time

Minutes after Mike Lee stepped off the court, the Catalina Foothills senior was eager to take on Yash Parikh and the Salpointe Catholic boys tennis team once again, even though he had just lost to Parikh in both singles and doubles play.

“That’d be awesome if we got to play them again,” said Lee, who has signed with the Arizona Wildcats. “I really want to see him again, I really do so bad. I want to play him again in doubles and singles.”

Top-ranked Foothills, the two-time defending Division II state champion, rolled to another win against the Lancers on Thursday, beating them 7-2 at Tucson Racquet Club, in a rematch of the last two championship matches.

The showdown may have also been the final meeting between Lee and Parikh, two of the state’s premier tennis players over the last four years.

Parikh’s 6-1, 6-2 singles win against Lee and a come-from-behind 8-6 victory in doubles with fellow senior Cyrus Grygutis provided the lone victories as sixth-ranked Salpointe snapped its seven-match winning streak.

“It feels really good, but I expect to win,” said Parikh, who is undecided on his college plans. “I’m happy with the way I played, but I know I could do better.”

Foothills extended its winning streak to 48 matches, a run that dates to the 2013 season. Still, the Falcons aren’t looking past anyone.

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“No team is unstoppable,” said first-year Foothills coach Jeff Bloomberg. “We’ve had some of our matches where the score wouldn’t indicate it, but they were competitive. “We’ve just got to be ready to go each week; we’re not going to take anything for granted.”

Both teams close out the regular season next week before kicking off the singles and doubles tournaments Friday. The team tournament opens the following week, on Tuesday.

Lee won a singles championship as a freshman in 2013, and Parikh won a year later. Last spring, Lee was the state runner-up, and Parikh fell in the semifinals to the eventual champion.

Although it would only be fitting to see the two club teammates face off for the singles title, that might not be the case: Parikh, who is undefeated, will play in the singles tournament, but Lee might team up with his freshman brother, Mason, to play doubles.

“We want to get that title as a family,” Mike Lee said. “That would be really special.”

However, there is still the possibility of the two playing each other during the team tournament — perhaps in the championship match, once again.

“If this is the last time, I’m going to be very sad,” Mike Lee said. “This is not how I wanted to go out, I didn’t play that well.”