Boys tennis: 23-0!

Tony Altobelli

CLAREMONT - The combination of a dominant Corona del Mar High boys

tennis team and a case of funky ranch dressing was just too much for

Brentwood to overcome in the CIF Southern Section Division V Final.

The Sea Kings took advantage of a less than 100% Eagles squad and

played their best tennis of the season en route to a 14-4 win Wednesday

at the Claremont Club.

“Did everybody step up or what?” CdM Coach Tim Mang said. “It’s pretty

safe to say we’re the best team in the state. We’ve played all the best

teams around and we’ve beaten them all.”

Missing in action for the second-seeded Eagles (14-2) was senior standout Sean McKean, who had to sit out the match due to a bad case of

food poisoning he sustained Monday after eating bad ranch dressing.

“That took some wind out of our sail, but I don’t think it made a

tremendous difference, the way CdM was playing today,” Eagles Coach Keith

Sarkisian said. “Perhaps it took a little bit out of us mentally. I

tried every mental trick in the book to prepare our team, but to no

avail.

“I feel bad for Sean,” Sarkisian continued. “We had him on IVs last

night and I thought I might be able to play him in doubles, but he said

his stomach hurt too bad to even stand up for a long period of time, let

alone play tennis in the hot sun.”

The way the top-seeded Sea Kings (23-0) were playing, however, The

Eagles would have needed superhuman results from McKean to change the

outcome of the contest.

“Even if Sean would have won all three of his sets, which would have

been next to impossible to do anyway, it still would have been 11-7,”

Mang said. “Brentwood’s doubles would not have changed. They just would

have dropped off a singles player.”

The task of leaving the rest of the Eagles sick to their stomachs with

outstanding play fell on the shoulders of senior Brian Morton, junior

Cameron Ball and sophomore Garrett Snyder. The trio didn’t disappoint,

winning all nine singles sets.

Ball was especially impressive, winning, 6-2, 6-0, 6-1.

“Being undefeated really adds a lot to this title,” Ball said. “I feel

sorry for Sean, but I still think we would have been too tough for them,

even with Sean. Sometimes playing here, my shots tend to fly a little bit

due to the wind. But I managed to keep it together and won all three.”

Morton, heading for UC Irvine in the fall, capped his final

competition with the Sea Kings by sweeping his sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.

“You always want to go out with a win,” said Morton, who teamed with

Snyder to win the Southern Section doubles crown Saturday. “This was

definitely a nice way to end my time at CdM.”

The key to CdM’s success came in the opening round of action, when the

Sea Kings won 5 of 6 sets.

CdM’s doubles, a worry spot for Mang coming into the final, stepped up

and rose to the challenge, especially the No. 1 team of Peter Kulmaticki

and Michael Bean. The senior duo pulled out three close sets, 7-6, 7-5,

6-4.

The twosome jumped out to a 5-3 lead in its opening set against the

Eagles’ No. 1 team of Chris Dennis and Ari Rosenthal, but the Brentwood

duo managed to break CdM’s serve to force a tiebreaker.

Bean and Kulmaticki never trailed in the tiebreaker, but still had to

battle all the way for an 8-6 win, giving CdM all the momentum heading

into the second round of action.

Also pulling out a big win was CdM’s No. 3 doubles team of Shaan

Wadhwa and Ryan Stockwell. They breezed past David Asper and Davey Ryan,

6-1.

“When they told me that score, I said, ‘Are you sure you got that

score right?’ ” Mang said with a laugh. “That really gave us some

breathing room.”

Snyder, in his matchup with Brentwood’s top singles player, sophomore

Eric McKean, younger brother of Sean McKean, used some late heroics to

keep the Sea Kings rolling in the second round.

Down, 4-3, Snyder broke McKean’s serve to tie the set. Both players

held serve and Snyder led, 6-5, before breaking McKean again to win the

match. He also swept in singles, 7-5, 7-5, 6-0.

The Sea Kings, who won the Division I title in 1999, also received

strong play from Randy Myers and Justin Ning. The duo posted a 7-6 (7-3)

win, which gave CdM an insurmountable 10-2 edge after two rounds.

“Next year, we’ll be strong in singles and we’ll rebuild our doubles,”

Mang said. “We’ll be losing seven seniors so this was a great way for

those guys to go out. They deserve it.”

CIF DIVISION V PLAYOFFS

Final

Corona del Mar 14, Brentwood 4

Singles - Morton (CdM) def. Bringham, 6-2, def. E. McKean, 6-4, def.

Freeman, 6-4; Ball (CdM), won, 6-2, 6-0, 6-1; Snyder (CdM) won, 7-5, 7-5,

6-0.

Doubles - Kulmaticki-Bean (CdM) def. Dennis, Rosenthal, 7-6, def.

Safan-Stanley, 7-5, def. Asper-Ryan, 6-4; Myers-Ning (CdM), lost, 0-6,

3-6, won, 7-6; Wadhwa-Stockwell (CdM) lost, 1-6, 4-6, won, 6-1.