Boys’ Tennis: Beckman makes history
IRVINE — Beckman High has had an up-and-coming boys’ tennis program for a while now.
Maybe now it’s time to give the Patriots a bit more credit than that.
They announced their arrival Thursday with a 12-6 Pacific Coast League victory over Corona del Mar. It’s the first time the Sea Kings have ever lost to the Patriots in league play.
It is Beckman (3-1 in league) which has emerged as the leading contender for second place in league, behind University. That’s a spot that CdM has occupied for eight straight years.
Last year, the Sea Kings were able to fend off Beckman, earning 11-7 and 10-8 wins in league to finish second. The Patriots were third.
“Things change,” CdM Coach Jamie Gresh said. “Beckman’s a good program, Northwood’s a good program and so is Woodbridge. I don’t feel any added pressure as a coach, that some of these schools are getting better and we’re a little bit below where we used to be. Everything changes in high school athletics. I think it’s an exciting time, where a lot of different teams have chances to beat each other. It will all sort itself out in the end.”
Thursday’s match was closer than the final score would indicate. CdM (6-5, 2-2 in league) had a chance to go up, 4-2, after the first round.
Instead, it was the host Patriots that did that after winning a pair of tiebreaker sets. Beckman juniors Charlie Tong and Deran Chan got past CdM seniors Johnny Rhone and Blake Fesko, 7-6 (7-4), at No. 2 doubles. At No. 3 doubles, CdM sophomores Matt Paulsen and Grant Brown squandered set points and fell to Beckman sophomore Steven Tong and junior Kevin Ahn, 7-6 (7-2).
“That was huge,” Gresh said. “It was 2-2, and we needed both of those tiebreakers to get off to a 4-2 start. Basically, with the lineup we played, I felt like Bjorn [Hoffmann] could sweep and our doubles was going to have to win seven out of nine [sets]. If we won those first two tiebreakers, we would have been off to the races and had a little bit of momentum. When we didn’t get that, our backs were up against the wall a little bit.”
Hoffmann, who made it to the second round of the main draw earlier this week at the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, did indeed sweep at No. 1 singles. He got past Alex Stern, 6-2, Ryan Teng, 6-1, and Joshua Yoo, 6-3. CdM’s No. 1 doubles team of Tyler Gaede and Oliver Kim also swept, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.
But those were all the sets the Sea Kings could muster. Stern, Teng and Yoo all won twice in singles for Beckman, and the doubles teams, also including junior Alex Sun and senior Aaron Yu, also all won twice for Coach Nick Friendt’s Patriots.
Overall, CdM lost three tiebreaker sets, a 7-5 set and a 6-4 set, all in doubles.
“It feels awesome,” Beckman’s Charlie Tong said of beating CdM for the first time ever. “We’ve always been on the losing end. Last year we were really close, but we weren’t able to beat them. We were finally able to get the win for once, so it means a lot to us.
“It’s very tough for sure [in the Pacific Coast League]. It’s a lot of pressure. I think we’re in one of the toughest leagues in California ... it puts pressure on us and makes us want to work harder.”
Spring break appears to come at a good time for CdM, which lost to University, 17-1, on Tuesday without Hoffmann. The Sea Kings conclude the first half of league play on April 14, at Northwood.
Gresh knows how tough the league is. His team narrowly beat Woodbridge, 10-8, last week. He said he could switch the lineup around in the rematch against Beckman, which is scheduled for April 30 at CdM.
“Maybe we do something a little different,” he said. “I’m always thinking about lineups and which one to play. I think about it the night before [the match], the morning of, and then on the way over.”
