Sea Kings stunned in quarters

Steve Virgen

If ever the Corona del Mar High boys tennis team loses, it is usually

an upset and it usually causes the Sea Kings to analyze what went

wrong.

Visiting Loyola of Los Angeles shocked Corona del Mar, the CIF

Southern Section Division I defending champion, with an 11-7 victory

in the CIF Division I quarterfinals Tuesday.

The top-seeded Sea Kings lost seven doubles sets, including four

tightly contested ones, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and 7-5. Sea King Coach Tim

Mang said Corona del Mar (20-2) failed in coming up with the key

shots in the close sets.

But what if Carsten Ball was here?

“It definitely would have been a different match,” Mang said.

Wesley Miller, the Sea Kings’ No. 1 singles player who swept his

sets, 6-1, 6-0, 6-2, did not put it as mildly.

“We would have won,” Miller said. “We’re frustrated about losing.

I expect to not lose again in high school. Our team will beat them

next year.”

Ball, the Sea Kings’ top singles player, did not compete for the

Sea Kings Tuesday. He was coming home from El Paso, Texas, where he

won the United States Tennis Association national opens. He overcame

a 3-1 deficit in the first set and defeated Conor Pollock, 7-5, 6-2,

in the title match, which ended about 1:15 p.m. mountain time

Tuesday.

Ball, who is ranked 35th in the national boys 18s singles, chose

to play in the USTA event because it would boost his standing in the

national poll, which is generally used by college recruiters.

Ball and his father, Syd, traveled back home by car after the

championship final. Ball did not know of the Sea Kings loss until

reached by cellular phone.

“I’m disappointed,” said Ball, who was in Tucson, Ariz., at about

6:30 p.m. “I wish I could have been there. I wish I could have helped

somehow. But I was in El Paso. I can’t be in two places at once. I

thought the guys could have held their own ... I needed El Paso for

my ranking nationally. It helped a lot to win it. I wanted to win

CIF, too. But it’s a give-or-take [situation].”

Mang had been hoping to have Ball in the quarterfinal match. He

shuffled his lineup Monday, expecting Ball would still be playing in

El Paso Tuesday. He was not pleased with the situation.

“There’s a lot of frustration there, but decisions were made,”

Mang said. “It would have been a close match either way. I’m sure

[Ball] would have loved to be here.”

Ball would have most likely won three sets, just as Miller did,

Mang said. Under that scenario, the final score would have been, CdM

10, Loyola 8.

“It would have been a lot closer [if Ball played],” Loyola Coach

Mike Denison said. “We were aware he was in Texas. If he showed up we

were ready to try our hardest. If he didn’t show up we were ready to

take advantage of the situation.”

After the first round of sets, the Cubs (19-3) won all three

points in doubles and one in singles to take a 7-5 lead, putting

pressure on the Sea Kings. Miller and junior Spencer Reitz won in

singles in the third round. That meant, Corona del Mar needed to

sweep in doubles in the final round to win the match, but it lost all

three, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

The Sea Kings had a chance to win with the help of what was

thought to be a momentum-changing victory by Jonathan Kroopf and Nick

Gingold. The CdM duo defeated Will Schigian and Rey Alvarez, 7-6

(8-6), to close out the second round.

Kroopf and Gingold were up, 5-4, but Schigian and Alvarez fought

off four match points. The Loyola tandem later forced a tiebreaker

and went up, 5-1, but the Sea Kings rallied to win it. Alex Nguyen

and Sean Pham also won one doubles set for CdM.

*--*

CIF Division I

Quarterfinals

Loyola 11, Corona del Mar 7

Singles -- Miller (CdM) def. Ross, 6-1, def. Ecung, 6-0, def. Curtius, 6-2; Reitz (CdM) lost, 3-6, won, 7-5, 6-0; Tat (CdM) lost, 0-6, 0-6, 2-6. Doubles -- Kroopf-Gingold (CdM) lost to Ortiz-Niedermeyer, 4-6, lost to Del Moral-King, 4-6, def.

Schigian-Alvarez, 7-6 (8-6); Roberts-Caughren (CdM) lost, 3-6, 0-6, 3-6; Nguyen-Pham (CdM) lost, 4-6, 5-7, won, 6-3.

*--*