DENVER – Jason Warkentine called the 5A state No. 1 singles match Saturday “one of the best high school tennis matches I’ve ever watched.”

The only downside of the match for the Pine Creek boys tennis coach is his player narrowly missed the state championship.

Braylon Desquitado dropped his first high school match in the 5A finals against Regis Jesuit’s Alec Rodriguez-Fields 6-3, 2-6, 4-6 at Denver Tennis Park.

“I’m very proud of him,” Warkentine said. “He went out there and he battled and it was a great match. Alec started playing great in the second set and he picked up the pace and he got a momentum swing.”

Prior to the match against Rodriguez-Fields, Desquitado had a 20-0 record and earned all but one victory in straight sets.

Desquitado also won 6-0 or 6-1 in 28 of his 41 sets played. His lone three-set match came at regionals against Jace Nakamura, whom he beat 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

As sweet as the straight-set wins were for Desquitado, those competitions rarely tested his endurance. And stamina played a role in his final match.

“We were grinding out 20-ball rallies and you get really tired in those,” Desquitado said. “I was breathing heavily into each point. I’ve learned I have a lot of things to work on this offseason.”

Desquitado looked comfortable after winning the first set, but Rodriguez-Fields’ momentum from his second-set victory carried into the finale and the Raiders’ sophomore built a 3-0 lead.

Then, the Eagles’ freshman began to strike the ball with precision and his ball placement re-emerged.

During Desquitado and Rodriguez-Fields’ final set, just one other contest remained on the court, No. 4 doubles, and the audience inside focused on the battle between the underclassmen.

The crowd fell silent during rallies with the only commotion coming from Desquitado and Rodriguez-Fields hitting the ball over the net.

That is until Desquitado roared after landing a methodical strike and applause rang out from Eagles fans in attendance.

Desquitado bolted toward his back boundary, connected with a ball, hit it over the net and out of reach of Rodriguez-Fields’ reach to cut the lead to 3-2. Desquitado eventually tied the match at 4-4.

But then …

“I started cramping at 4-all,” Desquitado said. “I couldn’t do much but go for the ball. My dad told me to go for the shots and I did. I know that I did all that I could.”

CHSAA’s on-site trainer worked to help Desquitado fight off a cramp in his right leg, and briefly, it worked.

Desquitado held a 30-15 game lead for the fifth point of the third set, but Rodriguez-Fields continued to hit the ball out of Desquitado’s reach.

“They played well, and they both battled out there. Congratulations to Alec on a well-played match,” Warkentine said. “We played one hell of a match out there and in the offseason, we’ll work on a couple of things and come back next year and see if we can get back to this same spot.”

Desquitado reiterated several times that, although he ended his freshman tennis campaign with a nearly unblemished record, he recognizes he still has areas of his game to polish.

“There’s always something to work on,” Desquitado said. “I’ll work on mentally recovering from each point and not focusing on the past so I can stay in the present. I also need to work on my ball placement. It’s mostly mental stuff I need to work on, but I know I can get that cleaned up.”