Boys tennis: CdM’s Ball bounced in upset

Steve Virgen

FOUNTAIN VALLEY - With a heartbreaking three-set loss Wednesday,

Corona del Mar High’s Cameron Ball experienced a hard lesson the Southern

California Junior Tennis Sectionals can teach.

His teammate, Garrett Snyder, the No. 8 seed, recognized the reality

of that lesson and brought an intensified effort which resulted in a 6-1,

6-2 victory over Arcadia’s Gordon Hong at Los Caballeros Sports Village.

Ball, on the other hand, admittedly performed with a lack of focus,

losing a tightly contested match, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, to Fallbrook’s Daniel

Andrus.

“My head wasn’t in the match,” Ball said. “I just wasn’t on. I don’t

know what it was. But, that’s no excuse. (Andrus) deserved to win. That

was a close match.”

Close, indeed. Especially in the third set. Each served with fervor,

which perhaps explained why most of their rallies didn’t exceed four

shots.

Andrus broke Ball’s serve for only the second time in the match to

garner the 6-4 win, ending what was the tournament’s last match of the

day.

Ball will play in the consolation bracket today at 10:30 a.m. against

James Magsino of West Hills.

Meanwhile, Snyder, who dispatched his opponent quickly, strolled from

court to court to see teammates Ball and Brian Morton. Snyder will face

Travois Rettenmaier today at 10:30 a.m. in the Round of 16. Rettenmaier

defeated Malibu’s Scott Stewart, 6-3, 6-3.

Said Snyder: “I put the pressure on (Hong) early and he couldn’t

handle it real well. From the start, I think I scared him a bit. In the

beginning of the second set, he broke my serve and went up, 2-1. And that

was the only time he really challenged. But, I broke him right back.”

Also, in boys 18s singles, Morton, the No. 6 seed, battled to a 6-1,

6-7, 6-3 victory over Irvine’s Brett Van Linge. Morton will face Ari

Rosenthal of Pacific Palisades. Rosenthal also played in a tough

first-round match, recording a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Andrew Lieu of

Thousand Oaks.

In boys 14s singles, incoming CdM freshman Carsten Ball, the No. 1

seed, took care of Altadena’s Patrick Adams, 6-2, 6-1. Carsten Ball will

face Newport Coast’s Matthew Chou, who defeated Jordan Colman of Indian

Wells, 6-4, 6-3.

Before looking ahead, Carsten Ball’s father, Syd, said his son is not

ready yet to win the sectionals title.

“He’s got a lot of tennis left in order to win that,” said Syd Ball, a

former Australian Davis Cup player and a teaching pro at Costa Mesa

Tennis Center.