Blue Valley West’s Max Kurzban wins second Kansas state tennis title

Jack Santilli sat motionless with his face buried in his hands and a towel draped over his head. He was the latest victim of the Max Kurzban machine.

Kurzban, last year’s 5A state singles champion in boys tennis, moved up to 6A this year and wreaked havoc while playing for Blue Valley West. Heading into the Kansas state tournament, he was 19-0. He blazed through four opponents Friday and Saturday, none of whom took him to a third set, and once again was crowned champion.

“It shows my hard work over time,” Kurzban said. “It’s just great going from 5A to 6A and still having the same confidence going into the tournament.”

The march to a second straight state title concluded with Kurzban’s 6-3, 6-3 win over Santilli, who plays for Shawnee Mission East. It was Santilli’s third loss to Kurzban this year and his third straight runner-up finish in the Kansas state tournament.

“Three losses this season (for Santilli), and they’re all to Max,” Blue Valley West head coach Traci Rhodes said. “If you take Max out of the equation, Jack is the one who’s undefeated, and he wins state his senior year.”

Kurzban, a junior, broke Santilli’s serve in the first set to go up 5-3 and serve out the set himself. His serve whistled past Santilli, who was frustrated after the set, tossing his racket into the fence.

Santilli took a 2-1 lead in the second set, but that’s as close as he would come to his elusive state crown. Kurzban fought back for a 3-2 lead after sticking a return deep into Santilli’s corner, just out of reach.

“As a freshman at state, he (Kurzban) got knocked out of the top four, and he was devastated,” Rhodes said. “He thought he was better, and he said at that point he wasn’t going to lose anymore after that. … This year his goal all along has been to go undefeated, take EKL, take regionals, take state, so I’m proud of him for doing all that.”

Kurzban’s finish helped BV West to a second-place overall finish in the state competition, only behind BV Northwest. On the doubles side, Northwest’s duo of Jonathan Lowe and Arvind Raghuraman lost the final to Blue Valley’s Min Moon and Tyler Elmendorf 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).

The doubles final lasted nearly three hours, as the two teams traded points nearly symmetrically. Lowe and Raghuraman wasted three opportunities at match point before Moon and Elmendorf took the crown.

“It’s a great way to go out finishing your senior year,” Moon said. “And we’ve both got graduation tomorrow, so it’s the perfect way to go out.”

This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 11:57 PM with the headline "Blue Valley West’s Max Kurzban wins second Kansas state tennis title."