Tennis: Sea Kings roar into semifinals

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Be careful who you invite to the party.

Corona del Mar High boys tennis coach Tim Mang might be thinking that

today as his second-seeded Sea Kings prepare to face Menlo of Atherton in

the championship semifinals of the inaugural CdM/Pavilions National High

School Team Invitational at 1 p.m. at the Palisades Tennis Club.

After knocking off Woodberry Forest of Virginia in the first round, 7-2,

then escaping past Beverly Hills in the quarterfinals, 6-3, Mang’s Sea

Kings will square off against Coach Bill Shine’s Menlo Knights, the

defending CIF Central Coast Section champions who are just glad to be

here.

With the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds getting upset in the first round, it created

an early scramble Friday and Menlo took advantage, taking on emotionally

drained Centennial, after the Bakersfield-based Golden Hawks shocked

third-seeded Cherry Creek of Colorado.

“We don’t get much competition up where we are, except Monta Vista in

Cupertino, so for us to go out and have close matches like this, well,

the kids just love it and this is great,” said Shine, whose squad twice

won, 5-4.

“We knew it would really be different down here with all these good teams

and we’re just happy to be in the tournament. But (my) kids are playing

well and they’re anxious to show people how good they are.”

Like top-seeded Peninsula, CdM rolled into the semifinals as expected,

but Beverly Hills gave the Sea Kings a scare. In doubles, the Normans had

leads on all three courts and were aiming for a comeback.

“For about three or four minutes, we were all up a break and it was

actually looking good for us,” Beverly Hills Coach Mike Margolin said.

“That format (eight-game pro sets) is like the colleges, and, if you can

get into doubles, you still have a chance. So you never know. A 4-2 lead

(from singles) can be erased.

“It’s almost like this March Madness in basketball, where you can come

back.”

Brian Morton and Cameron Ball, who play first and second singles for the

Sea Kings, teamed at No. 1 doubles and held off Brian Swatt, the Normans’

No. 1 singles player, and Raymond Hekmat, 8-5, and CdM’s Peter Kulmaticki

and Robert Kennedy clinched a No. 3 doubles win.

“I was pretty nervous,” Mang said. “But these (doubles players) came

through.”

Swatt defeated Morton at No. 1 singles, 9-7, to make the match

interesting, cutting the Normans’ deficit to 4-2 and forcing Ball, the

sophomore sensation with a tender left calf muscle, to play doubles in

the second round of the match. If CdM had clinched in singles -- each set

is worth a point, a total of nine points are available in the match --

Mang said he was going to rest Ball.

But Swatt, who up 6-3 against Morton before the CdM junior came back,

broke Morton’s serve in the 16th game and the suspense continued into

doubles.

“Staying consistent and calm -- that’s the key (to beating Morton),” said

Swatt, who also defeated Morton, 6-3, last week in a nonleague match at

Beverly Hills, a 10-8 victory for the Sea Kings. “He’s the type of player

you can’t let yourself get upset easily against him. You just try to chip

away at him.”

Morton used some expert drop shots to win points, then he and Ball played

together and returned the favor in doubles.

“There was a lot of pressure,” said Mang, realizing the importance of his

team reaching today’s semifinals for crowd and media interest (CdM’s the

only Orange County school in the tournament).

“When we got ahead 4-2, that was great, then Beverly Hills got ahead in

all three of the doubles sets.”

In the first round against Woodberry Forest, Morton, Ball, Randy Myers,

Michael Bean, Kennedy and Kulmaticki won singles sets for the Sea Kings,

ranked No. 2 in the nation last year according to the USA Today. Mang

switched his doubles lineup after taking a 6-0 lead in singles.

“We had two or three singles matches that were pretty close, and it was

possible we could’ve won one of those,” Woodberry Forest Coach Randy

Hudgins said. “We gave them a run in doubles, but they won all the close

matches, and that’s the sign of a good team when they win all their close

matches.

“Their players are more talented; they’ve played in more tournaments, and

that gives you a competitive edge. I think Corona del Mar can win the

whole thing.”

In two singles sets, Ball was 16-3 playing at No. 2, while Kulmaticki was

16-1 at No. 6.

“I think there’s a favorable amount of pressure being the No. 2 seed (in

the tournament),” Ball said of his team.