Snyder falls in CIF final

Richard Dunn

There was morning magic in Garrett Snyder’s racket Saturday morning,

but once it turned to afternoon, the Corona del Mar High senior

standout played a different wand and came up short in the CIF

Southern Section singles championships Saturday at SeaCliff Country

Club.

After knocking off top-seeded Jeffrey Das of Troy in the

semifinals, 6-3, 6-4, Snyder squared off against Calabasas sophomore

Gary Sacks in the finals.

Sacks, relatively unknown heading into the CIF championships,

continued his breakthrough season with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Snyder

in the title match.

“Maybe I left some of [my game in the semifinal match]. I didn’t

have the magic in this [final] match,” said the University of

Texas-bound Snyder, whose prep career includes one more match -- the

CIF Division I team championship against Santa Barbara on Wednesday

at the Claremont Club, where the Sea Kings will try to win their

third section title in five years.

“It’s been a great individual career, I guess. I’m looking forward

to Wednesday’s team championship match, and hopefully we’ll bring

home the bacon,” added Snyder, who won Southern Section doubles

titles the last two seasons.

Snyder, the No. 4 seed, eliminated Stanley Sarapanich from

Crescenta Valley, 6-4, 6-4, in the Round of 16, then swept

Brentwood’s Eric McKean, 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the quarterfinals.

Snyder, who lost to Das in a third-set tiebreaker at the Ojai

Valley Tennis Tournament, upset the top seed in the semifinals in

convincing fashion.

“It was a great semifinal,” CdM Coach Tim Mang said. “Garrett was

really into it. It was a fantastic win for him.”

In the championship match, Sacks used a powerful forehand to

dominate matters early, while Snyder was still trying to adjust to

his new opponent. “That’s another thing. I didn’t know what to

expect, because I had never played [Sacks] before,” Snyder said.

“Garrett didn’t have time to figure out a game plan,” Mang said.

Earlier this year, Sacks, 16, won the boys 18s national title at

the Muterspaw championships in Las Vegas, qualified for a pro

challenger tournament and finished third at the Easter Bowl in the

16s.

“My goal at the beginning of the year was to win CIF,” Sacks said.

“I knew it was a tournament I’d like to win, but as a sophomore you

can’t really expect that. There are a lot of good players who are in

it.”

Snyder, who was proud of his semifinal win, broke Sacks’ serve for

the first time at 2-5 in the second set, coming to the net on an

overhead smash for a 40-30 edge, then winning on Sacks’ long volley.

Sacks, however, broke Snyder in the next game, which included an

exchange of drop shots, to secure the championship.