Stalder still alive in doubles

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — Newport Harbor High graduate Reese Stalder has had deep runs in boys’ 18 singles at each of the last two Southern California Junior Sectionals tennis championships.

Each time, Kalman Boyd of Rancho Santa Fe has stood in the way.

Stalder lost to Boyd in the title match last year. This year, the top-seeded Boyd is looking for a repeat.

He’s one match away after downing Stalder, 6-2, 6-4, in a semifinal match Sunday at Los Caballeros Racquet and Sports Club.

Stalder, however, is still alive in his quest for a repeat performance of his own.

Stalder and partner Billy Rowe of Coronado, the defending tournament doubles champions, are two wins away from going back-to-back. Stalder and Rowe downed Ethan Kolsky of Long Beach and Naara Shin of Downey, 6-0, 6-0, in a quarterfinal match later Sunday evening.

The doubles match took just 30 minutes, giving Stalder time to shower and then attend an Southern California Tennis Assn. awards dinner Sunday night at the Chuck Jones Gallery in Costa Mesa.

More doubles action is in store for Stalder on Monday, the tournament’s final day. Stalder and Rowe will play No. 9-seeded brothers, Austin and Connor Rapp of Rancho Mirage, in a doubles semifinal match Monday at 12:30 p.m. at Los Cab. The title match would follow at 3 p.m.

In singles, however, the USC-bound Boyd was just too tough. He will play this year’s CIF Individuals singles champion, Brandon Holt of Palos Verdes, in the Junior Sectionals title match Monday.

“It would be really, really cool [to repeat],” Boyd said. “I feel like if I win it twice, I would be sort of copying [former Orange High and USC star and current pro] Steve Johnson. If you can copy Steve Johnson, that’s awesome. It would be pretty much a dream come true. When I was in the 12s, 14s, I never thought I would win it [once], let alone twice, if I did get to win it twice.”

Stalder had too many missed opportunities against Boyd. In Boyd’s first service game in the first set, he saved three break points to hold. Then, in the next game, Boyd broke Stalder’s serve on his own third chance to take a 2-1 lead.

From there, he rattled off three more games for a commanding 5-1 lead. A game later, he held to close out the set.

“I cannot finish right now,” Stalder yelled out to himself in frustration. “It’s unbelievable.”

That trend continued in the second set. Up 2-1, Stalder couldn’t convert three break point chances. Two games later, Boyd broke Stalder’s serve for a 4-3 lead.

“I felt like he was a little bit tight on his forehand,” Boyd said. “Usually, I feel like he would slap a lot more winners. Reese is definitely a great player.”

Stalder converted his first break point of the match — on his 10th chance — to even the set in the next game. Yet, down ad-out in the next game, he was broken again when he decided to serve and volley and the backhand volley went into the net.

Boyd held serve at love, closing out the 80-minute match with a service ace down the “T.”

“You’ve got to convert your break points to be successful, and I didn’t do that today,” said the TCU-bound Stalder. “My forehand was a shell of [what it was Saturday]. [Saturday] was awesome, and today I just wasn’t hitting the ball very well. I wasn’t striking it as well as I have been, but he puts pressure on you. But yeah, it was a little disappointing to just lay an egg with my forehand. It’s basically my best shot, too.

“I had a high forehand volley on my game point at 4-all. I’ll make 99 out of 100 of those. Then I missed a pretty routine backhand volley too. That’s pretty uncharacteristic. I’m usually pretty comfortable up there, but that was the difference today. I didn’t hit my forehand well and I didn’t volley well, and that’s two big parts of my game.”

Still, winning a second doubles title with Rowe at the big Junior Sectionals, a Level 1 tournament, would mean a lot to Stalder. They have lost just six total games in their first three matches.

“Billy and I have been playing very well,” Stalder said. “It’s good that we’re keeping our focus throughout the entire match, which sometimes has historically been a bit of an issue.”