Story By Keith Lair, San Gabriel Valley Tribune

It might be the best chance for the Arcadia and Diamond Bar high school boys tennis programs to prove their prowess in a long time.

The two programs have seemingly been stopped from potential recent CIF Southern Section team titles time and again by teams from the Rio Hondo League and Desert Valleys League. Specifically San Marino and Palm Desert.

But both those teams have graduated to Division 1, probably the toughest 32-team team high school tournament in the nation. The Pacific League dropped down a division in the reshuffle and the undefeated Apaches earned the No. 2 seed in the Division 2 playoffs and will play host to Righetti in Wednesday’s first round. The Brahmas won the inaugural Palomares League crown and will play host to Hart. Diamond Bar earned the No. 6 slot in the tournament. Arcadia has never won a team title while Diamond Bar won a title in 2008.

San Marino, which defeated Palm Desert in the Division 2 final the last two years, earned the No. 5 seed in Division 1. The Titans will play La Quinta in the opening round.

Keppel, Maranatha and Rosemead all earned high seeds in the tournaments. Keppel is the No. 3 seed and Maranatha the No. 4 seed in Division 4. The Aztecs will play host to the winner of the Orcutt Academy-Cerritos Valley Christian match. Maranatha will play the winner of the Alhambra-Lompoc match. Rowland is the No. 5 seed and will play either Ocean View or Oakwood. Rosemead earned the No. 4 seed in Division 5 and will play the Downey-Ganesha winner.

Twenty-eight San Gabriel Valley and Whittier-area teams earned playoff berths. All tournament finals will be held May 22 at The Claremont Club.

Also earning first-round home games in Wednesday’s first round were: Northwood at La Canada; Atascadero at Walnut; Bonita at Pasadena Poly; Citrus Valley-Linfield Christian winner at Covina; Estancia at La Serna; and Chaffey-Rim of World at Duarte.

Other area teams will play wild-card games on Tuesday, with Schurr playing host to Yucaipa and Azusa taking on visiting San Jacinto.