Tennis: Hoffmann advances, then rained out at Ojai
Corona del Mar High junior Bjorn Hoffmann won his first CIF singles match at the 115th annual Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on Thursday.
Then, Mother Nature had her say in disrupting the prestigious tournament.
Hoffmann’s round of 32 match against Anthony Baltazar of Rio Mesa was postponed due to rain with Hoffmann up 1-0, CdM Coach Jamie Gresh said. Hoffmann defeated Derek Vincent of Loyola 6-2, 7-5, in a round of 64 match.
Hoffmann will resume play Friday. He’s the only Newport-Mesa local left in the CIF divisions. CdM’s doubles team of Tyler Gaede and Oliver Kim fell to Nicholas Appel and Zachary Cohen of The Bishop’s School, 6-2, 6-3, in a round of 64 match.
Sage Hill’s representatives also fell in the first round. Lightning sophomore Adam Langevin lost to Richard Han of Servite, 6-1, 6-4, in CIF singles, while Woodbridge’s Paul Diamantopoulos and William Tenney rallied past Sage Hill’s Omead Moini and Kenan Torlic, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, in CIF doubles.
Newport Harbor senior Reese Stalder, competing in the men’s open division, rallied to win his round of 32 match against Dmitry Dzyuba of Castro Valley, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. Stalder then fell to top-seeded Phillip Bester of British Columbia, Canada, 6-1, 6-1.
Stalder is also competing in men’s open doubles in Ojai. He and partner Alexander Lebedev of Island Park, N.Y., open with a round of 16 match Friday at 12:30 p.m. at Ojai Valley Inn. Carsten Hoffmann of Newport Beach (Bjorn’s father) and Arthur Hernandez of Huntington Beach will be in action with an open men’s doubles round of 16 match Friday at 2 p.m., also at Ojai Valley Inn.
No. 9-seeded Newport Beach residents Alex Reyna and Austin Di Giulio are also competing in boys’ 16 singles. Reyna defeated Eric Chung of Rolling Hills Estates, 6-3, 6-2, as well as Peter Clemente of Palm Springs, 6-4, 6-3. He’ll play in a boys’ 16s round of 16 match Friday at 8 a.m. at Nordhoff High in Ojai.
Di Giulio, who won the Ojai boys’ 14s title last year, defeated Evan Shamlian of Los Angeles, 6-1, 6-4, in his round of 64 match.
Corona del Mar High junior Siena Sharf is competing in girls’ 18 doubles with partner Layla Rodriguez of Rancho Santa Margarita. Their first match is Friday at 9:30 a.m.
Orange Coast College is also competing in the Community College men’s and women’s singles and doubles championships. No. 13-seeded Elmer Van Butselaar of OCC will play No. 3-seeded Brenden Lum of Foothill in a round of 32 match Friday at 8 a.m. at Oxnard Tennis Center.
In women’s singles, No. 6-seeded Haili Dickson of OCC has a round of 32 match against Nikki Tigas of Long Beach at 8 a.m. Friday at Buena High in Ventura. Dickson and partner Emily Nickles have a round of 32 doubles match against No. 13-seeded Stef Flores and Anastasia Khomyachenko of Cerritos at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Ventura College.