Stalder into singles semis
FOUNTAIN VALLEY — The most entertaining point of Reese Stalder’s boys’ 18 singles quarterfinal tennis match at the 113th annual Southern California Junior Sectionals on Saturday was easily the very last one.
Stalder, the recent Newport Harbor High graduate, hit a drop shot that Ryan Marker of Palm Desert somehow got to. Marker hit a lob, which forced Stalder to run back and go for a between-the-legs shot.
“I hit a really good drop shot, I thought, but he’s pretty fast and he ran it down,” Stalder said. “I thought there was no way he could have gotten to it and not ran into the net, so I was kind of flat-footed. He got to it and hit a good lob … [The ‘tweener’] was actually probably the right shot. It just presented itself and I went for it.”
Stalder won the point, and the match, by putting away a forehand winner on the next ball. It was the finishing touch on a 6-1, 6-4 win at Los Caballeros Racquet & Sports Club that put Stalder into the singles semifinals.
Stalder, the No. 3 seed, will play top-seeded Kalman Boyd of Rancho Santa Fe in the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, also at Los Cab. It’s a rematch of last year’s Junior Sectionals boys’ 18s title match, which was won by the USC-bound Boyd.
Boyd outlasted his future USC teammate, Los Alamitos’ Riley Smith, 6-3, 6-7, 7-5, in another quarterfinal match Saturday.
“I need to stay within myself, stay aggressive and see what happens,” said Stalder, the recent CIF Individuals finalist who is bound for TCU. “He’s good. It’ll be a good match.”
Stalder and partner Billy Rowe of Coronado, the defending Junior Sectionals doubles champions, also stayed in contention by winning a pair of matches Saturday night at The Tennis Club Newport Beach. The No. 2 seeds, Stalder and Rowe beat Corona del Mar resident Alex Reyna and his partner Allen Thornes of Irvine, 6-2, 6-1, in the round of 32 before getting past No. 9-seeded Bradley Cummins of Rancho Mirage and Alex Kuperstein of Palm Desert, 6-1, 6-2, in the round of 16.
The latter doubles victory was particularly impressive, as Cummins and Kuperstein were the Ojai tournament doubles champions this year.
Stalder and Rowe will play in the doubles quarterfinals Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at Los Cab. The semifinals and championship match are scheduled for Monday.
Stalder feels like he’s playing well. His match with Marker, who is headed to the University of San Francisco, wasn’t nearly as close as the meeting that Stalder won, 7-6, 7-6, in the CIF Individuals quarterfinals.
In Saturday’s match, Stalder easily won the first set. The second set was closer, but Stalder earned a key break of serve at 3-3 and was able to close it out.
“I was hitting my forehand really well”, said Stalder, who also beat Zac Brodney of Los Angeles, 6-0, 7-6, in a round of 16 match earlier Saturday. “I did a better job this time of taking it to him. I was the aggressor this time. He was probably more offensive in CIF, I felt like, and this time I kind of stepped in and cut everything off and was ripping [my shots].”
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•In other main draw action Saturday, No. 5-seeded Bjorn Hoffmann of Newport Beach lost to No. 9 Daniel Gealer of Los Angeles, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, in a boys’ 18 singles round of 16 match.
Costa Mesa’s Maxi Duncan, the No. 9 seed, fell to No. 5-seeded Lindsay Hung of San Clemente, 6-3, 6-2, in a girls’ 14 singles round of 16 match.
