Boys tennis: Second annual national invitational puts Peninsula at

the top

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Defending national champion Peninsula High, as

expected, was awarded the top seed Thursday in a national invitational

hosted by Corona del Mar High’s boys tennis team at the Palisades Tennis

Club.

The second annual CdM National High School All-American Invitational,

created to more clearly identify the top teams in the country (public and

private), will feature a dozen schools from California in the 16-team

bracket. The event March 16-17 is played at several locations in the

area, with Palisades serving as headquarters.

The Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club, among those who donated courts, is

headquarters for the girls national invitational in the fall.

While not every national-caliber tennis team in the country is present

for myriad reasons (i.e. travel restrictions, or economic hardships), the

core of the tournament is no doubt the top of the line.

Peninsula, which could probably go through any team in its way with

its superb talent and depth, won the USA Today’s mythical national

championship last year, after winning CdM national invitational and CIF

Southern Section Division I titles. All but one player is back.

Menlo of Atherton is seeded second, CdM third and Brentwood, the

defending CIF Division IV champion, fourth.

“This year, we’re looking good ... (but) I’m not sure. This tournament

will help a lot, obviously,” CdM Coach Tim Mang said of his squad, which

was ranked No. 1 in the Orange County preseason poll and improved to 2-0

with a 13-5 nonleague victory Tuesday over No. 3 Los Alamitos.

After Peninsula won the inaugural CdM national invitational, Panthers

Coach Tom Cox said he loved the tournament with its team excitement and

college format.

But he wondered why his top-seeded team a year ago opened the

invitational at Costa Mesa Tennis Center, the only public facility of the

five hosting clubs and off the Back Bay path from the other locations.

“You’d think they’d put the No. 1 seed, and one of their featured

teams, at one of the country clubs,” said Cox, referring to Palisades,

Newport Beach Tennis Club and BBC Racquet Club, which hosted matches,

along with the private Park Newport Apartments, and all are within close

proximity of headquarters (Palisades).

“You know, Costa Mesa isn’t a country club. But that’s OK. Everything

worked out well. We were nice and they were nice ... you know why (we

were scheduled at Costa Mesa). (The Sea Kings) are the hosts.”

If that doesn’t flame a boys team tennis rivalry, nothing will.

In last year’s event, Cox’s team was the only school without a

challenge. The Panthers’ closest margin of victory was 7-2 in the

semifinals against Harvard-Westlake.

CdM was runner-up in the USA Today national poll in 1999, the first

year of the newspaper’s honor. Cox once admitted he wasn’t all together

happy about the timing of CdM’s high ranking, considering his team’s

dominance in previous years.

This year, Peninsula opens at the Palisades Club against Mills of

Millbrae.

But while CdM and Peninsula might be the most heated opponents in the

national invitational, there was an overwhelmingly warm reception a year

ago from the visiting teams about the tournament, largely because of the

great competition.

Joining the four seeded teams in the tournament will be Mills of

Millbrae, Jesuit of Sacramento, University of Irvine, Clovis West of

Fresno, Torrey Pines of San Diego, Christ Church Episcopal of

Greensville, S.C., Horace Mann of Riverdale, N.Y., Woodberry Forest of

Woodberry Forest, Va., Brophy College Prep of Phoenix, Ariz., Beverly

Hills, Monta Vista of Cupertino and La Jolla Country Day.

Corona del Mar squares off in the first round March 16 against Horace

Mann at the Palisades Club at 10:30 a.m.