Boys’ Tennis: CdM edged on games

PALOS VERDES — For the second straight day, the Corona del Mar High boys’ tennis team lost a close match to a team from Palos Verdes.

CdM fell to Peninsula, 10-8, at home on Tuesday. On Wednesday, CdM made the trip north to take on Palos Verdes High, the team that also is nicknamed the Sea Kings, at its home courts.

This early in the season, it is more about making progress than winning matches, so Coach Jamie Gresh wasn’t overly displeased after CdM suffered a 9-9 (80-75 on games) loss on Wednesday.

“We’re not far off,” Gresh said. “We’re just under-experienced right now, but I like the team dynamic. It’s a small team, and everyone’s on board and ready to play. We’re getting better set by set.”

Junior Bjorn Hoffmann swept in singles for Corona del Mar (1-2), including an impressive 6-3 win over Brandon Holt, Palos Verdes’ top player.

Gresh said that Hoffmann, ranked No. 3 in the Southern California boys’ 18s by the United States Tennis Assn., played a very clean set against Holt, who is ranked No. 12 in the 18s. Holt, who is also a junior, is the son of former world No. 1 Tracy Austin, who watched the action on Wednesday.

“That was a really clean set, in terms of low errors and dictating play,” Gresh said. “[Hoffmann] is definitely more of an all-court player this season, compared to last season.”

Coach Danny Moscovici said that Holt was making his season debut for Palos Verdes (3-1). He easily won his other two sets.

Palos Verdes’ other returning starter from last season, which saw Palos Verdes advance to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals, is Dean Dellovade. He and Ken Kasai also won twice in singles for the hosts.

Each of Corona del Mar’s doubles teams won twice. Senior Johnny Rhone and freshman Ryan Wessler, senior Tyler Gaede and junior Oliver Kim, as well as sophomores Matt Paulsen and Grant Brown, all had chances to sweep. But they lost the other set by scores of 6-4, 6-4, and 7-5 respectively. Palos Verdes’ No. 1 team of Cole Tournat and Matt Dellovade won twice.

Palos Verdes took a 4-2 lead after one round and a 7-5 lead after two rounds. The hosts led, 9-6, with three doubles sets still on court.

CdM won all three. Rhone and Wessler took down Mikael Purne and Chase Brannen, 6-2, before Gaede and Kim got past Tournat and Dellovade, 6-4. Paulsen and Brown, CdM’s top two junior varsity players from last season, earned a 6-4 win over Sean Murphy and Blake Severa.

But Corona del Mar still was short on games.

“It’s been different than other years,” said Rhone, who is in his second year in the starting lineup. “We definitely can anticipate a lot more closer matches, and we’ve definitely been bouncing around. I played singles [Tuesday], and doubles today, so I think the whole team’s just trying to be flexible. We put out a different lineup every match. We were expecting two tough matches, and I think that even though we lost both, we definitely are getting better. It’s better to lose in the beginning of the season than later. I think we’ll be ready for close matches down the stretch.”

CdM had just one substitute available for Wednesday’s match. Gresh said that senior Ryan Andrews is out with an unspecified injury, and it is unknown if he will play this season.

Gresh will use the players he has. He said that Peninsula, Pacific Coast League rival University, Harvard-Westlake and Los Alamitos appear to be the top teams in Division 1, in no particular order. But CdM, which advanced to the Division 1 quarterfinals last season before losing to rival Harvard-Westlake, is most likely in the next tier.

“There’s a lot of teams that are even and strong this year,” Gresh said.

Corona del Mar plays host to Fountain Valley on Tuesday, and at Mira Costa on March 12, in two more nonleague matches. The next week is even more daunting.

CdM plays host to Los Alamitos on March 17, then at Newport Harbor in the Battle of the Bay the following day. Then, the Sea Kings play in the annual National High School All-American Tournament on March 20-21.

“Everyone’s feeling each other out and building that chemistry,” Rhone said of the doubles teams. “It’s good to have some tough tests. It definitely makes us mentally stronger.”