Boys’ Tennis: Sailors edge Sage
After losing his first two doubles sets Tuesday afternoon, Newport Harbor High senior Ryan Young could have gotten frustrated.
After all, the Sailors boys’ tennis team was playing rival Sage Hill. Young also had his family members in attendance. His parents Rob and Carrie watched, as did his older sisters, twins Christina and Robin, who themselves accomplished much for Harbor girls’ tennis and are currently home on spring break from UC Santa Barbara.
Ryan Young, a co-captain, didn’t fret too much. He sat down to talk with his sophomore partner Sam Leaman.
“This is my senior year, so it was my last set against Sage Hill,” Young said. “ I really just wanted to go out with a bang, and that’s what I told him. We just collected ourselves and pulled it out.”
Young and Leaman did indeed win their last set, 6-2. It helped the Sailors clinch a tight 10-8 victory over the Lightning in the nonleague match at Newport Harbor High.
Newport Harbor (8-1) has finished off a stellar nonleague schedule by beating Sage Hill (4-3) for the second straight year in the teams’ nonleague match. Last year, the score was also 10-8.
Those results, combined with the fact that Newport has won the Sage Hill-hosted Lightning Invitational three years in a row, lend fire to the rivalry.
“We knew they would be gunning for us, especially on our courts,” said Newport’s other senior co-captain, David Schaefer. “We expected a close match and battled as best we could.”
David Schaefer swept at No. 3 doubles with Andy Myers, and Mark Schaefer swept at No. 2 doubles with David Lee. The Sailors’ third sweep came in singles, as TCU-bound senior Reese Stalder eased past his three opponents to stay perfect this season. Stalder is now 23-0.
The score was tied 3-3 after one round, and 6-6 after two rounds. The difference in the third round was that Newport Harbor was able to sweep in doubles.
“The last three times we’ve seen them, it’s been a battle very time,” Newport Harbor Coach Kristen Case said. “It’s always exciting to go into a match when you know that you’re playing a good opponent like that, and you’re going to have to really play well to beat them. I was really proud of how our boys showed up to compete today. I think it was the perfect match for us to have going into league play starting this week ... because every point was going to matter, and that’s the best preparation you can ask for going into league play.”
Junior Kenan Torlic, sophomore Adam Langevin and sophomore Omead Moini each won two singles sets for Sage Hill, which is ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division 2. The Lightning began Academy League play by defeating rival St. Margaret’s, 13-5, and play the Tartans again on Friday at home.
Sage Hill could win just two doubles sets against Newport Harbor. Seniors Kian Etedali and Shayan Emtiaz defeated Young and Leaman, 6-2, in the first round, as did substitutes Amir Soleimany and Han Chin, 6-1, in the second round.
Emtiaz, Soleimany, Gordon Strelow and Noah Koumas are the four soccer players who are on the tennis team. Since Sage boys’ soccer advanced to the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 6 playoffs and the CIF Southern California Regional Division IV semifinals, boys’ tennis Coach A.G. Longoria didn’t get the four players out to tennis until less than two weeks ago.
Longoria said that this has delayed finding permanent doubles teams yet for the Lightning, who substituted liberally in doubles on Tuesday.
“We’ll figure this out in the next two weeks,” Longoria said. “We’ll get it together.”
Newport Harbor opens Sunset League play with a pair of tough matches. The Sailors play at Los Alamitos, ranked No. 2 in Division 1, on Thursday. Then next Tuesday Newport Harbor plays host to Marina, which it beat out for third place in league last year to make the Division 1 playoffs.
“We need to use that match to make us better,” Case said of the league opener against the Griffins.
