CdM’s Niels Hoffmann, Marina doubles team capture CIF Individuals boys’ tennis titles
CLAREMONT — Tennis can be a solitary sport, lonely even, but Corona del Mar High senior Niels Hoffmann has always found joy and comfort in the camaraderie of high school tennis.
Some of Hoffmann’s teammates and best friends joined him Thursday on the final day of the CIF Southern Section Individuals boys’ tennis tournament at Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
In a sparkling four-year career, it was the friendship that the USC-bound Hoffmann would probably remember more than any crazy rally or match. He and the other top singles player on the team, senior Jack Cross, were even born on the same day — Jan. 18, 2006 — at the same Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach and grew up playing tennis together at Palisades Tennis Club.
“I can’t say that I would have played high school tennis if it weren’t for the people around me,” he said. “Some of my best friends are on this team. I was thinking about it this morning. The fact that they’re here is just such a privilege. I love these boys.”
Cross and CdM’s No. 1 doubles team of Jonathan Hinkel and Roger Geng lost in the CIF Individuals semifinals, leaving them available to watch top-seeded Hoffmann face off against No. 2-seeded Beckman freshman Tyler Lee in the title match. He did not disappoint.
Hoffmann defended his title from a year ago, playing aggressive tennis and earning a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Lee in the final match of his high school career.
Marina High junior Trevor Nguyen and sophomore David Tran also impressed Thursday. Nguyen and Tran, the No. 4 seeds in doubles, beat No. 2-seeded SangHyuk Im and Bradley Yung of University 6-4, 6-3 for the CIF doubles championship.
It’s the first time that Marina has won a CIF Individuals championship, in either boys’ or girls’ tennis.
Hoffmann wouldn’t be denied in the final. After three straight breaks of serve to open the match, he won three straight games to take a commanding 5-1 lead. After his serve was broken in the second game of the second set, he won five straight games to win the match going away.
“This is why I play high school tennis,” he said. “Of course, the fun of it all and the camaraderie … but this is game day. This is what we practice for. I love it that I was able to show up to the occasion, rise to the occasion.”
CdM coach Jamie Gresh said that Hoffmann played a good, physical brand of aggressive baseline tennis. In the semifinals, he had rallied from a 3-1 first-set deficit to dispatch No. 4-seeded JSerra freshman Riley Anson 6-4, 6-1.
Hoffmann became the fourth boys’ player this century to win back-to-back CIF singles titles, the first since Stefan Dostanic of Woodbridge in 2017 and 2018. He is also the first Sea King boys’ tennis player to accomplish the feat in singles.
“His concentration and movement were excellent,” Gresh said. “It’s a pretty special way to cap off your senior year. I think it’s hard to win CIF as a junior, and it might be even harder to win as a senior when you’re the favorite and the defending champion. There’s a lot of pressure to defend and repeat, and I think he handled that really well.”
Hoffmann ended his career with the two CIF singles titles and two Ojai singles championship appearances, including the title this year. He also helped the Sea Kings as a team reach three straight CIF Southern Section Open Division titles.
“He brings that energy and that effort, every time,” Gresh said. “He left a legacy of competing at his finest when CdM needed it the most.”
Marina’s Nguyen and Tran had upset top-seeded Caleb Settles and Mateen Gharfarshad of Claremont, 6-4, 6-3 in the doubles semifinals. The match was a rematch of an Ojai doubles semifinal, which was won by the Claremont duo in a tight three sets.
Once they reached the final, Nguyen, a left-hander, and Tran also impressed against the team from University. Im sought his third straight CIF doubles title, with different partners, but the Vikings denied that.
“Surf League is on top, baby,” Tran said, referencing Hoffmann’s singles win. “It’s definitely an unbelievable day. We both played pretty solid tennis today, and I know this meant a lot for our coaches [Chuck Kingman and Cameron Jones] too, since this is the first time that Marina has won this tournament.”
Kingman said Nguyen’s lefty forehand is one of the heaviest balls he’s seen in his years of coaching.
“They just kind of got on a roll,” Kingman said. “They complement each other well. If they get going, they’re hard to stop, especially if Trevor gets his confidence and he just start’s teeing off on the ball.”
The winners of the tournament get to keep the big draw sheets, and Tran said he would hang the sheet up in his room.
But why does he get it, and not Nguyen?
“We played rock paper scissors, and I won,” Tran explained with a smile.
In singles semifinal action earlier Thursday, Beckman’s Lee rallied for a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 win over No. 3-seeded Cross from CdM. After a close first set, Lee came out and won 11 games in a row against Cross, who’s bound for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
“To be completely honest, I’ve played a bunch of really good guys … and I’ve never been blitzed that hard,” Cross said. “He probably hit 35 winners to like six unforced errors in the second two sets, which is a stat that’s almost impossible [to overcome]. He took the racket out of my hands; too good.”
Hinkel and Geng did well to force a third set in the doubles semifinals against Im and Yung, but the University tandem earned a 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 victory. Hinkel, who will play next year at Irvine Valley College, advanced the furthest in his career after making the doubles quarterfinals with Jack Knox as a sophomore and the round of 16 with Geng last year.
“Roger and I had such a good season, it’s kind of hard to be mad about that,” Hinkel said. “He’s become one of my best friends.”
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