CdM well-stocked for title defense

Bryce Alderton

When asked to give his thoughts on the upcoming season, Corona del

Mar High boys tennis coach Tim Mang paused, but kept the response

simple.

“It looks good,” said Mang, who enters his 11th season guiding a

program fresh off an undefeated season and a CIF Southern Section

Division I championship last spring, its third CIF title in five

years.

The Sea Kings boast a slew of returners, including juniors Carsten

Ball, ranked No. 1 in Southern California boys 16 singles and 26th

nationally in the same category, Wesley Miller and Spencer Reitz, who

will be Mang’s top three singles players. Garrett Snyder, who

compiled a remarkable 55-0 record in dual matches last year as CdM’s

top singles player, now attends the University of Texas. Despite

losing Snyder, a two-time CIF doubles champion, to graduation, Mang

wasn’t reserved about judging the talent of this year’s group.

“This is the best singles lineup in all of CIF,” Mang said.

Ball went 27-2 in singles while posting a 15-3 doubles mark last

year and Miller was 25-2 in doubles and 23-1 in singles. Ball earned

first-team All-Pacific Coast League honors in singles while Miller

claimed the feat in doubles. Reitz went 47-7 in singles to garner

second-team accolades.

Miller and Issei Saida reached the league doubles final a year ago

and Mang said, depending on the opponent, that Miller might see some

action in doubles again this season.

“Teams are going to stack doubles at us because they know there is

no way to beat us if you throw it all in singles,” Mang said. “I

might have to put Wesley in doubles against Peninsula, Santa Barbara

and Harvard-Westlake [all fellow Division I foes].” CdM defeated

Santa Barbara, 14-4, in the CIF title match last year.

CdM’s doubles teams are also strong on returners, boasting juniors

Alex Nguyen and Nick Gingold along with Mang’s only senior, Brennan

Roberts, a first-team all-league performer last year. Gingold and

Nguyen both earned second-team all-league laurels last year.

Freshman Ryan Caughren, sophomores Dan Tat and Jonathan Kroopf and

junior Sean Pham provide Mang more options in doubles.

“All those guys are even,” Mang said.

But it is all about chemistry between partners and Mang won’t be

afraid to switch lineups if things aren’t clicking.

So far in preseason practice, play has gone smoothly.

“The three doubles teams are playing as well as the second doubles

team last year,” Mang said. “But playing in a match is a different

sort of pressure out there. Two of them have never played in big

matches before.”

Mang hasn’t sided on a soft schedule, opening the season at

Brentwood March 2 and following two days later against host Beverly

Hills.

“[Those matches] will tell me a lot about how those guys will do,”

Mang said.

In addition to the rigorous nonleague schedule that also includes

a date with Mater Dei on March 8, CdM will face stiff competition

when it hosts the fifth annual National High School Tennis

All-American Boys Invitational team tournament March 26-27, a

tournament Mang chairs. The Sea Kings have claimed the last two

tournament titles.

This year’s field includes more teams from Southern California

than previous years, among them Mater Dei and Newport Harbor.

University should provide the strongest competition in the Pacific

Coast League, but will be without one of their key doubles players

from a year ago, Mang said.

Matt Chou, who teamed with teammate Michael Haier to claim the PCL

doubles title last season, will sit out this season in hopes of

playing for CdM next spring.

“Imagine if he plays for us next year,” Mang said.

As for this year, the anticipation mounts.

“I’m excited,” Mang said. “They are good kids and hard workers.

They have a few things to polish off and we will be fine.”

Mang’s only worry is he might lose Ball to United States Tennis

Association events that conflict with team matches and CIF

individuals later on.

“I know the guys out of Palos Verdes who run the tournaments so I

might write them a letter and ask them to give [Ball] an early match,

or give the top-seeded players byes in the first round,” Mang said.

“All the good players you have to approach that way.”