Boys’ Tennis: CdM wins Battle of the Bay
The Corona del Mar High boys’ tennis team lost two senior studs last year, with Bjorn Hoffmann going on to play for Cal and Pedro Fernandez del Valle at the University of Denver.
But the legacy of those two senior co-captains continues to be felt, CdM Coach Jamie Gresh said.
“Obviously, we’re a drastically different team this year,” Gresh said. “But I think the success that we had last year as a team, and the great senior leadership with Bjorn and Pedro, has kind of set the way that the team will run. All of the kids buy into it and understand what’s expected of them, how they’re supposed to compete and practice, day in and day out. I feel like it’s a group of 14 guys, and they’re all kind of on the same journey together.”
On Thursday afternoon, that journey was across the bay for the annual Battle of the Bay match against rival Newport Harbor. The Sea Kings, last year’s CIF Southern California Regional champions, showed that they will still be a force to be reckoned with this season.
They earned a 15-3 win over the Sailors, their third straight Battle of the Bay victory.
It’s early in the season for the Battle of the Bay, but CdM dominated. Seniors Matt Paulsen and John Hart swept, 6-0, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 1 doubles for the Sea Kings, who improved to 2-0 this season after beating San Clemente, 12-6, in their season opener on Wednesday.
“As the second match, it was definitely a little bit weird,” Paulsen said. “But I think our team really showed up for it, really competed hard. We were ready for it.”
It’s an experienced group, particularly in doubles, where CdM won eight of nine sets. Seniors Grant Brown and Trenton Rhodes won twice, while juniors Jacob Cooper and Ryan Wessler also won twice before being subbed out. All of these are experienced doubles players for the Sea Kings, who also got a win from the subs, Ari Abrams and Luke Muradliyan.
“It’s the same doubles teams, just better,” Paulsen said. “A year more experience.”
CdM also won seven sets in singles, although that could have been different. Newport Harbor freshman standout Max McKennon, who injured his left wrist in a tournament nearly a month ago, has yet to play for the Sailors. McKennon, who won the prestigious United States Tennis Assn. National Winter Championships in January to vault to the No. 1 ranking in the country in boys’ 14s, said he has an MRI scheduled for Monday.
“That changes the complexity of the match a lot,” Gresh said. “I mean, I’m the first to recognize, when a top kid sits out that changes the dynamic of your opponent. I hope Max heals up and gets his wrist better, because he’s a great kid and fantastic player who will help Newport Harbor out a lot.”
Sophomore Kyle Pham won twice in singles for CdM before he was subbed out, as did senior Austin McWilliams-Lucero. Junior Diego Fernandez del Valle and substitutes Matt Lobel and Alex Kermani, both sophomores, won one set each.
Pham was tested in singles by Newport Harbor senior David Lee. He was ahead, 3-0, before Lee won five straight games to earn a 5-3 advantage. But Pham rallied for the 7-5 victory.
Newport Harbor Coach Kristen Case said the set was good experience for Lee and the Sailors (1-2). He played singles in Tuesday’s season-opening victory over Mater Dei, but played doubles in Wednesday’s loss to Dana Hills.
Lee nearly swept, as he beat Diego Fernandez del Valle, 6-3, and CdM substitute John Dick, 7-5. He is one of three team captains for the Sailors, along with fellow seniors David Sharp and Sam Leaman. Leaman and Mark Schaefer earned the other set win for Newport Harbor at No. 3 doubles in the first round, 6-4 over Brown and Rhodes.
“In many of the areas today, we were extremely competitive,” Case said. “David Lee, I thought, played phenomenal today in singles. I was happy with how he competed. I think he played smart, and he played the momentum game well. He had very good shot selection in all of his matches. That was a tough loss against their No. 1, but we definitely learned a lot from that and we’ll be able to use that moving forward.
“CdM has such great depth and their singles line is very strong, so it’s such a great opportunity for David to get ready for the rest of the season and what he’s going to see from some of the top singles guys in our league. With our doubles, CdM has a very deep team. It really calls for us to rise to the occasion, and we love the challenge. Our big goal in doubles was really to improve our aggressiveness at the net and to be moving forward a lot more, and today was such a great opportunity for us to work on that.”
The Sea Kings play host to Fountain Valley on Tuesday, while Newport Harbor is home against Tesoro.
Twitter: @mjszabo
