CdM battles to end

CORONA DEL MAR — The sport was tennis, not cross country, but Corona del Mar High Coach Tim Mang was all about endurance Saturday at CdM.

The Sea King boys were finishing up the ninth annual National High School Tennis All-American Tournament. Mang said several of his players said they were tired, and they didn’t want to play after Friday’s quarterfinal loss to Santa Barbara.

Corona del Mar is young this year, and the prospect of playing several more nationally ranked players probably wasn’t appealing to those players. Mang, the tournament director, wasn’t likely to be buying that, though

“We had a little talk about that,” he said. “Now they understand, ‘Maybe I better be better conditioned. Or maybe I should be a little bit more mentally tough, so I can play in all the matches.’ I think they’re getting it. They’re not taking the easy way out now; they’re giving it their best.”

The Sea Kings did that Saturday, even as they lost two more matches to a pair of New York schools. Corona del Mar fell to Horace Mann, 6-2, before losing to Harley Allendale Columbia, 5-3, in the seventh-place match. Corona del Mar finished eighth at the tournament for the second straight year.

Santa Barbara defeated University, 5-3, to win the tournament.

The Corona del Mar player who had a legitimate reason for missing the tournament’s final day was senior Fabian Matthews, who aggravated a lingering groin injury on Friday.

Still, Matthews made the all-tournament team, though he suffered his first loss in the four years he has played in the event Friday. University’s John Huang and Matt Siow also earned all-tournament honors.

Without Matthews, who gives the Sea Kings a good chance to win at both No. 1 singles and doubles, it made it tough.

Tough to compete with teams like Horace Mann, the defending New York City champion, and Harley Allendale Columbia (HAC), defending New York Section Five team champion. Both teams have players ranked in the top 100 in the nation in boys’ 18 singles by the United States Tennis Assn.

“The way it’s set up, it’s hard for us to do well,” Corona del Mar junior Chris Damion said. “We only have one person who’s unbelievable [Matthews], while someone like University or Mater Dei, they have five or six unbelievable people. But I was pretty happy with the result; we did get one win. It could have gone a lot worse.”

There were indeed positives on Saturday. Damion teamed up at No. 1 doubles with sophomore Ryan Peyton for a 6-4 win over the HAC brother tandem of Sebastien Fauchet and JP Fauchet.

“I didn’t really expect very much, because I’d never played with Ryan before,” Damion said. “But, it turned out we’re a good little team together. He poaches a lot and I’m very consistent on the baseline, so it works. Usually, everyone else on the team is very groundstroke [oriented], but I need someone good at the net.”

Senior Brent Pham teamed with sophomore Matt Fisher for a 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles, giving the Sea Kings a 2-1 lead headed into the singles portion of the match. There, however, only Corona del Mar senior Bryan Buchert could secure a win, as the Wolves secured seventh place in the tournament.

Buchert, playing his only match of the tournament, beat JP Fauchet, 6-4.

The opportunity to play top competition was a definite positive for CdM, Mang said.

“After our No. 1 player, a lot of our players wouldn’t even see this level of tennis if they played a tournament,” Mang said. “Open tournaments in Southern California are really tough, and you’re eliminated in the first or second round. That’s the level of kids we have, except for Fabian, and now they’re playing guys who are winning those tournaments.”

Against Horace Mann, it was a similar match for Corona del Mar. Only Pham and freshman Hayden Tremper won in doubles, and the Sea Kings could only win in singles at No. 5, where Spanish foreign exchange student Gabino Felgueroso defeated Kai Cogsville, 6-3.

Peyton was one player who battled all day Friday, and was right back at it on Saturday. He said he enjoyed the tournament, and it was a good bonding experience for the Sea Kings.

“It’s a pretty fun couple of days,” Peyton said. “A lot of tennis, a lot of matches.”

All-American Tournament

Seventh-place match

Harley Allendale Columbia 5, Corona del Mar 3

Singles – Damion (CdM) lost to S. Fauchet, 2-6; Korber (CdM) lost to B. Guzick, 2-6; Peyton (CdM) lost to Tahir, 2-6; Felgueroso (CdM) lost to A. Guzick, 1-6; Buchert (CdM) def. JP Fauchet, 6-4.

Doubles – Damion-Peyton (CdM) def. Fauchet-Fauchet, 6-4; Felgueroso-Korber (CdM) lost to Tahir-B. Guzick, 0-6; Pham-Fisher (CdM) def. Von Bucher-Condon, 6-3.

Fifth-place semifinal

Horace Mann 6, Corona del Mar 2

Singles – Damion (CdM) lost to Schneiderman, 1-6; Pham (CdM) lost to Erani, 2-6; Korber (CdM) lost to Ded-Sen, 1-6; Peyton (CdM) lost to Orbuch, 2-6; Felgueroso (CdM) def. Cogsville, 6-3.

Doubles – Felgueroso-Damion (CdM) lost to Schneiderman-Ded-Sen, 1-6; Peyton-Korber (CdM) lost to Erani-Orbuch, 2-6; Pham-Tremper (CdM) def. Coughlin-Ma, 6-4.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].