OLD TAPPAN – For 12 months, Cresskill’s Chikaya Sato looked forward to a rematch with Dwight-Englewood’s Daniel Nuzhny.

The Bulldog ace beat Sato in last year’s Bergen County Tournament’s small-schools first-singles final but pulled out of this year’s competition before its start on Saturday morning.

On Sunday, Sato topped Rutherford’s Nikhil Sunderam to win the crown but admitted his victory was somewhat bittersweet.

“Yeah … it would’ve been better if I was able to play Daniel in the final and win it,” Sato said. “I ended up having some pretty tough matches anyway, so it’s alright.”

Actually, Sato’s only test came in the finals as he held off Sunderam’s first-set charge on his way to a 7-5, 6-0 triumph.

“I’ve known Nikhil since we played 10-and-under and trained together,” Sato said. “I was excited to play him, too, because we go so far back. I knew he was a great player.”

In the first set, Sunderam had Sato on the ropes. The Rutherford ace was up 5-4 and, with Sato serving, led the next game 30-15. It was all downhill for Sunderam after that.

“I’ve been dealing with a foot injury and at the start of the match, I wasn’t really warm and it was bothering me,” Sato said. “As soon as I got warm, my serve and my forehand started working. I was able to get in a groove and take the W.”

Being the bracket’s third-seeded player behind Nuzhny and Sato, Sunderam said he was one of the first to hear about Nuzhny’s decision to compete in another tournament.

“I realized I had an opportunity and I wanted to take advantage of it,” Sunderam said. “It was a very tight first set and I’m really happy with the way I played. I’m very proud of myself for getting this far.”

Even without Nuzhny, Dwight-Englewood sped off with the team trophy. The Bulldogs won titles on the other four courts and totaled 16 points while Pascack Hills and Cresskill followed with 10 and nine, respectively.

On the second-singles court, Bulldogs junior Rick Sivarak completed a huge personal comeback by topping Saddle River Day’s Jared Deibe in the finals, 6-1 and 6-2.

Before he reached high school, Sivarak underwent surgery to have a portion of a bone in his foot removed. He still managed to share the county second-doubles title as a freshman but decided to sit out his sophomore season to get his game back on its previous ascending arc.

“There were times I doubted myself … whether I could take my game back to where it was,” Sivarak said. “It feels really good, coming back this year and playing like I did in this tournament. I think it was worth it … sitting out last year.”

By coming back, Sivarak pushed teammate and three-time-defending county second-singles champion Nikhil Kokra down to third singles. On Sunday, Kokra won his fourth county trophy by shutting out Cresskill’s Zach Kolodzinski in the finals.

“I’ve been battling some injuries and we’ve had some really great players join the team,” said Kokra, when asked about his shift down in the lineup. “I’ve had tennis elbow on and off for about a month now. But I just battle through it and do the best I can for the team.”

On Sunday, Dwight Englewood also captured both doubles crowns as Brandon Grill and Shanay Amin topped Glen Rock’s Nathan Kapiloff and Andrew Birenbaum on the first court and Cameron Janssens and Tejas Akula beat Pascack Hills’ Jake Bierman and Jake Feldman on the second.