Advantage Malawy

Mike Sciacca

Nick Friendt says Ryan Malawy has it all as a tennis player.

A big serve. A flowing return. Spin, depth and volleys with a

touch -- as well as those that stick -- are the stuff found in the

Edison High senior’s arsenal.

Malawy, 17, is in his fourth year playing varsity tennis at Edison

and, with each passing year, he has managed to take his game the next

step.

He’s also matured into Edison’s top singles player.

“The guy can make good players look bad with the way he plays

points,” said Friendt, head coach of Edison’s program. “He’s an

artist the way he constructs points, like a right-handed Marcelo

Rios, the former No. 1 in the world from Chile.”

High praise for a young man who has played tennis since age 8,

following in the footsteps of his older brother, Jeff, Edison’s top

singles player between 1998-2000.

Once Malawy entered Edison, he began to make his own mark.

As a freshman, he compiled a 46-13 record. He went 44-13 in his

second year and last year powered his way to a 59-6 mark, a season in

which Edison gained a CIF playoff berth for the first time since

1999.

Entering today’s opening play in the Sunset League, Malawy is

17-4, which includes his recording a silver set in a March 12 win

over Sage Hill.

A silver set is where a player loses just one point in the set.

At the pace he’s going, he’s on track to break 200 career

victories, which would be a new Edison record.

“When I was younger, I really worked hard at my game, to get where

I am today,” said the well-spoken Malawy, who also excels in the

classroom with a 4.23 GPA and ranking of 24th out of 477 students in

Edison’s senior class. “I’m out at least a couple hours a day,

everyday, on the court, working on my game.”

The work Malawy has put in on the court has earned him All-Sunset

League honors in each of his three previous years.

Last year was considered to be “his best,’ Friendt said, when

Malawy teamed with then-freshman Thomas Shubert to win the Sunset

League doubles title, Edison’s first since Dan Albrecht and Eugene

Jeu combined to win the league doubles crown in 1996.

Malawy and Shubert advanced all the way to the CIF Individuals

round of 16 before falling to the division’s eventual champions, Ryan

Sandberg and Scott Hohenstein of Canyon High.

With Kevin McQuaid, who captured the past three Sunset League

singles titles, having graduated from Los Alamitos High last June,

Malawy is considered the top singles player in the league.

His top competition this spring might come from Shubert.

“I definitely think Thomas will be right there,” Malawy said.

“He’s a very good player. With Kevin graduated, I think there’s more

depth in singles play in the league. It’s going to be interesting.”

If Malawy claims the league singles title, he’d become the first

Edison player to do so since Ryan Michas won it as a sophomore in

1995.

“I played with Michas as a teammate and I see a lot of comparisons

between the two of them, as well as with the Sunset League, from then

to now,” Friendt said. “Ryan is like a two-handed backhand version of

Michas. The guy’s got a big game and has all the shots.”

Malawy also will play singles at the Ojai Tournament in April. It

will be his third invitation to play the prestigious event.

“Coach has really been instrumental in my four years here at

Edison,” Malawy said of Friendt . “He’s done whatever is needed, like

getting me into tournaments, or, if I needed a hitting partner, he’d

be there.”

Malawy’s first step toward becoming the Sunset League’s top

singles seed in next month’s league tournament begins today against

league favorite Los Alamitos.

“Ryan is a kid who has done it all in his Edison career,” Friendt

added. “He is a first-class human being, an exceptional student and a

great athlete. He has had a remarkable career on the courts but he

always puts the team and the school ahead of himself.

“He has raised the bar for all other tennis players at our school

and in our history. I don’t know if I’ll ever coach another player

like Ryan again, but he’ll forever be the student-athlete other

greats will be measured against. He really is the quintessential

student-athlete.”