Boys’ Tennis: Stalder, Hoffmann move on
SOUTH EL MONTE — Two dominant singles players moved through without too much trouble, while a promising sophomore doubles team nearly advanced as well.
All in all, it was a productive day for Newport-Mesa tennis players, at least when they were on the court, for the initial rounds of the CIF Southern Section Individual Boys’ Tennis Championships at Whittier Narrows Tennis Center.
Newport Harbor High senior Reese Stalder and Corona del Mar junior Bjorn Hoffmann each had byes in the first round, which meant they waited quite a while for their second match after they had to check in at 8:30 a.m. Hoffmann wasn’t on the court for the second-round match until about noon.
Hoffmann chose to use the time to play the game Hearthstone on his phone, watch the French Open on television and talk to CdM Coach Jamie Gresh and his grandfather. Stalder spent some of it watching Newport Harbor’s doubles team, David Lee and Mark Schaefer, in action.
“A lot of the junior tournaments I play get backed up, so it’s nothing I haven’t really seen before,” Stalder said. “You’d like to get on as soon as you can, but it’s not always possible.”
Once they got on court, it was smooth sailing for Stalder and Hoffmann. Each won twice to advance. Stalder dispatched Vahe Yacoubian of AGBU school, 6-0, 6-0, then got past Jack Fleming of Pasadena Poly in the third round, 6-2, 6-0. Hoffmann beat Ben Lee of Cypress, 6-4, 6-1, then cruised past Sam Kang of Warren, 6-1, 6-1.
Lee and Schaefer also nearly advanced. They beat Todd Nanayan and Alec Lau of Walnut, 6-2, 6-1, before topping Kelvin Ye and Bryan Lin of Maranatha, 6-0, 6-0. But Lee and Schaefer, the Sunset League runners up, fell to Jacob and Austin Lee of Valencia of Placentia, 7-5, 6-2, in the third round.
Stalder, the Sunset League champion, and Hoffmann, the Pacific Coast League runner-up, both feel confident about their chances going forward. Both will most likely advance to the round of 16 on June 5 at Seal Beach Tennis Center.
“I think they’re good,” said the TCU-bound Stalder, who is now 65-0 this season, of his chances of winning CIF Individuals. “I’m playing good tennis, so I’m going in with high expectations, but I know there’s a lot of other guys that also have high expectations who are very good. If I just play my game and do it well, I think I should be all right, and we’ll see how it ends up.”
The Cal commit Hoffmann, who advanced past the third round of CIF Individuals for the first time, has similar aspirations.
“It’s just going to be another SoCal designated tournament, with the same guys in the semis every time,” Hoffmann said. “It’s nothing I’ve never done before. Sure, it’s CIF, but it’s the same people, the same game. I’m looking forward to it. I’m not really scared.”
Hoffmann had the trickier match in the second round against Lee. His serve was broken twice in the first set, but he managed to earn a key break back to take a 5-4 lead. Hoffmann then held serve in a deuce game to take the first set. But it was relatively smooth sailing after that.
“He’s very fast, and he hit a lot of winners when I least expected it,” Hoffmann said. “He’s definitely a little sneaky with his shot selection. He fought, and he was quick … It took me a while to play my first match, so the second set I had a little more rhythm.
Schaefer and Lee were the first Newport Harbor boys’ tennis doubles team to advance to CIF Individuals since 2010. They played well in their first two matches and were also in the match against Valencia, up 5-4 in the first set. But Lee, on his serve, could not hold a 40-love lead at 5-5. He was eventually broken, and Valencia served out the set and stormed to a 4-0 lead in the second set as well.
“They were a lot more aggressive,” Schaefer said. “They improved their play and made it hard for us … [but] we’re pretty happy about [making CIF Individuals]. We put our all into it.”
Newport Harbor Coach Kristen Case, who put Schaefer and Lee together as a doubles team a few matches into the season, agreed. They had to survive a third-set super tiebreaker match against Marina in the Sunset League tournament semifinals just to advance to CIF Individuals.
“They left it all out there, and that’s all you can ask,” Case said. “It’s been a phenomenal season for those two … and the best part is they’re young, they’re only sophomores. It’s very promising for both of them.”
