Van’t Hof rallies, big time

Bryce Alderton

Some players save their best tennis when the time is right -- such

as match point.

On Friday afternoon at The Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club, Newport

Beach’s Kaes Van’t Hof, the No. 2 seed in boys 18s, dug deep and

pulled out a miraculous showing of tennis to defeat Encinitas’ Kyle

McDonald, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), to win the boys 18s singles

title in the War by the Shore Junior Tennis Classic.

Even with two tiebreakers, it was the second set that seemed to

change the momentum of the match as between 25 and 35 spectators

huddled on the patio, looking down at the tennis they saw on Stadium

Court.

Down one set and 5-2 in the second set with McDonald serving, Van’

t Hof rebounded from being down, 40-30, to force two deuce points

before McDonald double faulted, allowing Van’t Hof to break.

Van’t Hof would break two more times in the second set. That,

coupled with holding his serve the rest of the set propelled the

Mater Dei junior-to-be to victory.

“I’ve never been that far down and come back,” Van’t Hof said. “I

kind of panicked (when down, 5-2) saying, ‘What am I doing?’ I had

played him close in the (fourth and fifth) games of the set so I knew

I could break him. I guess the urgency got to me because that was the

end.”

In the second and third sets Van’t Hof began coming to the net

more, sensing when McDonald would hit a slicing shot.

“I was going for it too much in the beginning and missing it

long,” Van’t Hof said. “I definitely tried to sneak in when I saw

(McDonald) about to slice.”

Van’t Hof broke McDonald’s serve once in the third set as he

started putting a little more speed on his own serve.

Holding the 12-inch tall, hand-cut lead crystal vase awarded to

the champion in each age division, Van’t Hof asked his grandparents

if his horse won last night at Del Mar.

“They go to the races every Thursday night,” Van’t Hof said.

The second-seeded doubles tandem of Newport Beach’s Jillian

Braverman and Claire Rietsch won the girls 14s doubles title with a

7-5, 6-3 win over the top-seeded team of Monarch Beach’s Kendra Ivey

and Mission Viejo’s Micaela Hein.

In the girls 14s singles, second-seeded Nelly Radeva from Costa

Mesa gave the top-seeded Ivey all she could handle in a morning

match, but lost to the Monarch Beach resident, 7-5, 6-4.

The War by the Shore tournament marked the first tournament the

11-year-old Radeva has played in the girls 14s.

After the match both Ivey and Radeva smiled and talked as they

walked off the court with their tennis bags around their shoulders.

“I just played my game and did well against her,” Radeva said.

“(Ivey) was confident since she won the first set and went off that.”

In the girls 18s singles final, Newport Beach’s 12-year-old Alexa

Glatch, gave Coto de Caza’s Lauren Jones a much tougher second set,

but still lost to Jones, 6-0, 7-5.

Glatch broke Jones’ serve three times in the second set, hitting a

backhand-return winner to go up 40-30 at 4-2 in the second set.

Glatch took the game when Jones double faulted.

“I think I could have served a little better,” Glatch said. “I

tried to keep the unforced errors down and keep moving hoping she

would make unforced errors to get back in the match.”

Glatch often strode to the service line to hit a backhand-drop

shot to either corner of the court.

In boys 14s doubles, top-seeded Kurt Wheeler and Jake Fleming were

6-3, 6-4, winners over second-seeded Andy Gerst and Andy Magee.

Jamison Steele and teammate Amy Beck dropped a 6-3, 6-4 decision

to Molly Scott and McCall Jones in girls 16s doubles.

Taylynn Snyder and Casey Knutson fell in the girls 18s doubles

final by default.