Top-seeded Radeva ready for sectionals

Bryce Alderton

Costa Mesa’s Nelly Radeva just seems to keep climbing the tennis

ladder.

After winning the girls 14s singles division at the prestigious

Ojai Valley tennis tournament in April, the girl who just completed

her sixth-grade year at Kaiser Elementary enters the 101st Southern

California Tennis Association’s junior sectional championships, which

begin today at various sites, as the No. 1 seed in the girls 12s. She

is the only Newport-Mesa player seeded No. 1.

But she won’t play until Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Neal

Machander Tennis Center in Santa Ana with a chance to advance to the

round of 16. The sectional headquarters are at Los Caballeros Sports

Village in Fountain Valley.

Radeva, who reached the quarterfinals of the last year’s

sectionals in the girls 12s, is currently ranked No. 5 in the United

States Tennis Association’s rankings in that division while claiming

the top spot in Southern California in that circuit.

On the boys side, Newport Beach’s Jake Fleming earned the third

seed in the boys 14s singles while fellow Newport residents Fabian

Matthews (seeded eighth) and Ryan Caughan will also begin play

Wednesday with a chance to advance to the round of 16 in the

division. Fleming is currently ranked eighth in Southern California

and finished second in the boys 14s at Ojai.

Newport’s Carsten Ball is seeded sixth in the boys 16s singles and

plays Wednesday while Costa Mesa’s Charlie Alvarado (the eighth seed)

will compete in the boys 12s. Kaes Van’t Hof is unseeded in the boys

18s singles draw. In doubles, Van’t Hof and partner Chase Muller come

into play seeded sixth, with their first match coming Tuesday.

Joining Radeva in the round of 32 of the girls 12s will be Corona

del Mar’s Cierra J. Gaytan-Leach while Newport Beach’s Jillian

Braverman begins competition on Wednesday.

Five area players begin play today in girls 18s singles: Amanda

Rubenstein, Vanessa Dunlap, Diana Khoury, Amber Ray and Bonnie Adams.

Juliet Mutzke and Brittany Holland play Sunday. Dunlap and Khoury,

teammates from Newport Harbor High, will team in the girls 18s

doubles against Mutzke and partner Alex Jurewitz Tuesday while

Holland and partner Christine Dao also begin their doubles run the

same day.

Charlie Farmer and Tyler Deck, also Sailor teammates, begin action

in boys 18s singles today at Los Caballeros.

In girls 16s singles, area athletes including Carly Adams, Kate

McKitterick, Jamison Steele, Brittanny Sturgess, Jill Damion and

Megan McKay all begin play today while locals Wes Burrows, Patrick

Daniel, Nicholas Gingold, Justin Shomaker, Matt Chou and Robert

Khoury all begin their runs today. Spencer Reitz competes beginning

Sunday.

Farmer, Deck and Burrows will also compete in boys 18s doubles.

A stacked girls 14s singles draw features area players such as

Kelly McKitterick, Sarah Geocaris, Hayley Young, Alexandra McIntosh,

Sasha Dunlap, Rachel Cox, Elizabeth Van’t Hof, Miranda Young and a

matchup between Corona del Mar’s Alexandra Waters and Newport Beach’s

Christina Schwartz, Sunday at 2 p.m. at Los Caballeros. Henri

Chomeau, Andrew Singer, Bradley Fisher and John Leonard round out the

boys 14s singles.

Mara Schmidt, Meaghan Chomeau, Eleanor Edles, Lindsay Zotovich,

Melissa Matsuoka and Hailey Hogan will compete in girls 12s singles

with Chris Damion, Omeed Ghassemi and Connor Curry stepping on the

court in boys 12s singles.

Neda Ghassemi and Joseph Di Giulio represent the girls and boys

10s singles division, respectively.

The tournament runs today through June 29.