When Central York's Mikesh Desai needed it the most and expected it the least, he played his best match of the year.

Feeling sick and battling 90-degree temperatures Monday, the second-seeded Desai was able to make short work of fourth-seeded teammate Evan Cunningham, 6-1, 6-0, to win the YAIAA Class AAA tennis singles championship at South Western.

"By far, this is the best match I've played all season. I needed to play my A-game today and I definitely brought it," Desai said. "I kept improving as time went on. I was a little skeptical about my game today because I was a little under the weather."

"I've been looking forward to this all season. I knew, after losing my second challenge match, that the only thing I could look

Central York's Mikesh Desai was the Class AAA YAIAA Singles Boys' Tennis Champion after his win over teammate Evan Cunningham on Monday. (Daily Record / Sunday News: Jason Plotkin)
forward to was winning the county singles tournament. So, I came in more focused from that day on. I started lifting a lot more so I could get a lot stronger and mentally focused."

Desai cruised, thanks to a devastating serve that had Cunningham constantly on the move. In fact, during their first set Desai's serve was so dominant that not only did Cunningham fail to win a single game when Mikesh served, he only won three volleys started by Desai.

"I use a lot of variety on it," Desai said of his weapon. "I can use so many different spins, and I utilize that in my game to set up everything else. I use my serve to drag opponents off the court to open it all up. I know I haven't served this well all season. This was outstanding."

After taking the first game of the second set, Desai and Cunnigham battled hard in a grueling second game that reached deuce four times before Desai won.

Desai later acknowledged that game as being a springboard for his success in the rest of the set.

"I knew that was important to get that first break on his serve," Desai said. "I knew if I could break his serve to start the (second) set, I could be at a big advantage."

The day also was special for York Suburban's Nick Simon.

His

York Suburban's Nick Simon took YAIAA Singles Boys' Tennis Championship on Monday in Class AA. (Daily Record / Sunday News: Jason Plotkin)
gritty 4-6, 7-6 (7-0), 6-1 victory over Biglerville's Mike Rice won him the Class AA crown.

"This is the greatest feeling of my life. It's very unexplainable," the second-seeded Simon said. "It's what I've always dreamed of. It's awesome. I'm just in awe and shock. I just went into the match with as much confidence as I could and, like I said before, I just wanted to lay it all out on the table in my senior year."

After dropping the first set to the seventh-seeded Rice, Simon quickly found himself down three games to one early in the second set. He started to sense his time was running out and knew he'd have to dig deep in order to rally.

Simon later said he fed off support from his family and was able to win five of the next eight games to force a tiebreaker.

"The first set I started out good. I had the upperhand," Simon said. "He just rallied back and gained some momentum and won the first set. I just looked within myself and said, 'I have to do this, I have to do this,' and I did it. When I went into that tiebreaker, it was win or bust. Losing was not an option. After that, it was all heart."

With his back against the wall, Simon's determination was apparent as he quickly snagged the tiebreaker to even the match at one set each.

In the third set, Simon's will to win again was on display. In four of the seven games, Simon rallied back from 30-0 to win.

A memorable senior season will only get better for Simon, as he is now slated to make his first trip to the District 3 singles tournament.

"This is a whole new experience for me," he said, "and somehow I knew I was capable of doing this. It was just a matter of doing it and following through."