High Schools: CdM’s Ricker earns accolade

Brian Ricker is a tireless proponent of girls’ tennis, not only at Corona del Mar High but in the CIF Southern Section as a whole.

Ricker, who has been the CdM girls’ tennis coach for 11 years, doesn’t do it for the attention. But he got a big award recently, when he was named the Southern Section Girls’ Tennis Coach of the Year by the California Coaches’ Assn.

Ricker will be submitted to the state as a finalist for the California Coaches’ Assn. State Coach of the Year, to be announced in June.

His CdM teams have won seven league titles and made the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals three times, winning in 2006. His record as girls’ tennis coach at Laguna Beach and CdM is staggering, a combined 287-65. CdM has advanced to the Division 1 semifinals each of the last two years.

But Ricker is also notable for his participation on the CIF Southern Section advisory board since 2009. He’s in charge of coordinating the Division 1 coaches’ poll every week during the season, which is no easy task, especially this year with all of the parity.

“I enjoy doing it,” he said. “It’s a way to give back to the sport. Division 1 is the hardest poll to do.”

He said he has received congratulatory text messages from some of his players in recent days, after they found about the award.

“My first response is thank you to them, for winning so much,” Ricker said. “I’m proud to win an award like that. When we don’t have the top talent, we still compete with the top schools, and that’s because of the kids’ commitment.”

In recent years, the Sea Kings haven’t had the singles depth of teams like Palos Verdes Peninsula and league rival University, yet they have stayed competitive. Credit Ricker and his doubles expertise as a big reason why.

“I feel like we had a really good year this year,” said Ricker, whose team went 18-6 and also advanced to the CIF USTA Southern Regional semifinals for the first time in program history. “The doubles had a great year, and they worked hard all year. We only lost to teams that had significantly better singles players. Work on the doubles and consistency a lot. It seems like every close match we win, we win eight or nine doubles sets, and that’s hard to do.”

Senior captain Riley Gerdau, a four-year varsity starter, definitely agreed that Ricker was worthy of Southern Section Coach of the Year honors.

“It seems like he’s always there [at the CdM tennis courts],” Gerdau said. “Even if there’s nobody hitting, he’s there washing the courts or cleaning out the shed. He’s trying to make it the best environment for us, the best place for us to play.”

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There will be no shortage of girls’ water polo talent in Santa Barbara this weekend.

In fact, the argument easily can be made that the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions is the most challenging of the three in-season tournaments in which Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar play.

The rankings seem to bear that out. The TOC features all 10 of the teams ranked in CIF Southern Section Division 1, along with the top four teams in Division 2 and the top two in Division 4. It’s a three-day tournament this year, and it began Thursday with five “play-in” games into the main 16-team draw.

Newport Harbor (9-3) is the top team in Pool C, and will begin its tournament Friday at 3:30 p.m. against either Agoura or Cathedral at Dos Pueblos High in Goleta. A victory, and the Sailors would play either San Clemente or Mater Dei in the tournament quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Corona del Mar (7-3) is seeded first in Pool D, and will play either Royal or Los Osos in its opener at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Santa Barbara High. With a win, CdM would play in the quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Semifinals are scheduled for 11:10 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Saturday, at Dos Pueblos. The tournament championship game will follow at 4:35 p.m.

Laguna Beach and Foothill are the top two seeds in the tournament. The Breakers, the defending TOC and Division 1 champions, come into the tournament riding a 33-game winning streak.

Newport Harbor has surprisingly never won the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, which is in its 16th year. The Sailors have finished as runners-up nine times, including four of the last five years.

CdM has won the tournament three times, most recently in 2012.