Corona del Mar sets tone early

Bryce Alderton

It was one set out of many, but Corona del Mar High junior Wesley

Miller’s victory over Thousand Oaks sophomore Sam Querrey set the

tone early for what would come.

In a battle of both teams’ No. 1 singles players this day, Miller

sent Querrey to his first loss in high school competition, a 6-4

decision that paved the way for top-seeded CdM’s 12-6 victory in the

second round of the CIF Southern Section Division I boys tennis

playoffs Thursday on the Sea Kings’ courts.

The Sea Kings (20-1) face Loyola in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m.

Tuesday. The host will be decided by a coin flip today.

Miller improved to 24-0 in singles this season with three

victories while CdM’s top doubles team of senior Brennan Roberts and

freshman Ryan Caughren, playing in the No. 2 slot, swept for CdM, the

defending Division I champion which played without star junior

Carsten Ball.

Ball, ranked fourth in the Southern California Tennis Association

boys 18s singles, was en route by car to El Paso, Texas, where he

will compete in a United States Tennis Association national open that

begins Saturday. Ball is the top seed.

The loss of Ball was an obvious concern, but that made the Sea

Kings work even harder, Roberts said.

“It is a psychological advantage when [Ball] is here, but we knew

if we filled our roles, we would come through,” Roberts said.

Junior Spencer Reitz scored a key 6-3 victory over Robby Diamond

en route to taking two of three sets while CdM’s duo of Alex Nguyen

and Sean Pham, the Pacific Coast League doubles champions, claimed

two more victories to help the hosts secure six of nine doubles sets.

“I knew we would do well in doubles, even though I thought [the

Lancers] would put [Diamond] in doubles,” CdM Coach Tim Mang said.

“[Reitz] had a big win against [Diamond] and [Miller] had a giant win

against [Querrey].”

Miller, who won the league singles title last week, never trailed

after breaking Querrey’s serve to go up, 2-1.

Querrey, who claimed the boys 16s singles title in last month’s

prestigious Easter Bowl national championships, had game point and

nearly broke Miller at 4-3. But the CdM junior regrouped and relied

on his serve for the eventual win.

“I tried to take control with the serve and dictate with the

forehand,” Miller said. “I knew [Querrey] serves big and likes to

come to the net, so I tried to kick my second serves deep to prevent

him from getting to the net as much.”

Fittingly, on set point, Miller’s forehand hit the top of the net

and softly fell on the other side, with Querrey along the baseline,

“I knew if I won, it would be a big win. It might have hurt

[Thousand Oaks] to see [Querrey] lose.”

Miller’s defeat of Querrey wasn’t as shocking to Thousand Oaks

Coach Dave Assorson as the speed of the courts.

“These courts are way faster than normal courts,” Assorson said.

“The ball is almost by you on the middle of the backswing. I’m not

saying the outcome would have been any different under normal

circumstances, but it wouldn’t have hurt us as much.”

CdM built a 4-2 lead after the first round, but took five of the

next six sets to forge a comfortable 9-3 lead heading into the final

round.

“We just tried to stay confident and build our confidence for the

next matches,” Roberts said.

The Lancers finished 16-5.

Roberts and Caughren played together early in the season, but Mang

only recently began pairing them together again.

The duo went, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.

“[Caughren] is really improving,” Mang said. “I like that team.”

Jonathan Kroopf and Nick Gingold won one set for CdM.

Mang said he might have to do some shuffling for Loyola (18-3),

which defeated Los Alamitos on games, 82-80, Thursday, not knowing

whether he will have Ball.

The national open finals are scheduled for Wednesday.

“The doubles are going to have to do it,” Mang said.

*--*

CIF Division I

Second round

Corona del Mar 12, Thousand Oaks 6

Singles -- Miller (CdM) def. Querrey, 6-4, def. Diamond, 6-3, def. Giuffrida, 6-0; Reitz (CdM) lost, 4-6, won, 6-3, 6-0; (sub) Dupuis for Tat (CdM) lost, 0-6, Tat won, 6-3, 7-5. Doubles -- Gingold-Kroopf (CdM) lost to Brogden-Peterson, 4-6, lost to

Rathje-Russo, 4-6, def. Toland-Stevens, 6-3; Roberts-Caughren (CdM) won, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2; Nguyen-Pham (CdM) lost, 2-6, won, 6-3, 7-5.

*--*