Service time at sectionals

Bryce Alderton

Newport Beach resident Kaes Van’t Hof sat atop the Southern

California boys singles throne with a victory in the CIF Southern

Section individual tennis championships in May and that is right

where the Mater Dei High alum enters play for a tournament entering

its 102nd year.

Van’t Hof, who will attend USC in the fall and is currently ranked

30th in the United States Tennis Association boys 18s singles, earned

the top seed in the boys 18s singles draw in the Southern California

Tennis Association junior sectional championships, which begin today

and run through July 3.

Van’t Hof, who defeated top-seeded Blake Muller, a junior from

Santa Barbara, for the CIF individual title May 29, though, will have

to wait until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Los Caballeros Tennis Village

in Fountain Valley to play his first tournament match -- in the round

of 64 -- after a full weekend of play to determine his opponent.

Main draws for boys and girls ages 12 and older each consist of 64

players with mandatory feed-in matches held this weekend spread

across seven tournament sites that include the Neil Machander Tennis

Center and Cabrillo Tennis Center in Santa Ana, Los Caballeros, the

Fountain Valley Tennis Center, Irvine Valley College, the Costa Mesa

Tennis Center and Heritage Park in Irvine. Boys and girls in the 10s

singles draws will each play a single-elimination format with many

first-round matches beginning today.

Joining Van’t Hof in the boys 18s singles main draw will be

Spencer Reitz, who completed his junior season as one of Corona del

Mar’s top singles players. Reitz begins his tournament run at 4:30

p.m. Tuesday at Los Caballeros.

Reitz’s teammate, Sean Pham, along with Charlie Farmer, who

completed his senior season at Newport Harbor this spring, Costa Mesa

resident Wesley Burrows and Newport Beach resident Matthew Chou, are

also entered into the boys 18s singles field.

Jill Damion, who saw much playing time as a CdM freshman last

season, is seeded 13th in the girls 16s singles draw and begins her

tournament run at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Los Caballeros.

The play-in draw includes several locals: Evelyn Wallace, Carly

Adams, Alexandria Walters, Jillian Braverman, Elizabeth Van’t Hof,

Melissa Chinn, Megan McKay, Kelly McKitterick, sisters Hayley and

Miranda Young, Lindsay Norman, Brittanny Sturgess, Sarah Geocaris,

Brittany Cluck, Michelle Atkins, Gabrielle Nestande and Sasha Dunlap.

Newport Beach’s Oscar Matthews is seeded fourth in the boys 14s

singles main draw and begins play at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday at the

Fountain Valley Tennis Center. Locals Parker Rhodes, Omeed Ghassemi,

Braden Cluck, Andrew Singer, Henri and C.J. Chomeau, Brent Pham, Eric

Chebil and Bradley Fisher, who all begin play in the feed-in bracket

this weekend.

Newport Harbor’s Jake Fleming begins play in the boys 16s singles

main draw at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Los Caballeros. Newport Beach

residents Justin Shomaker and Ryan Caughren, along with Lincoln Tran,

John Dang and Huy Le, who all hail from Costa Mesa, are entered into

the play-in draw.

Newport Beach resident Melissa Matsuoka enters the girls 12s

singles field as the 10th seed and opens play at 9:30 a.m. Monday at

the Fountain Valley Tennis Center. She is joined in the main draw by

Newport Beach residents Hailey Hogan and Mara Schmidt. Corona del Mar

residents Cierra Gaytan-Leach and Neda Ghassemi, along with Newport

Beach’s Sarah Craig and Costa Mesa’s Eleanor Edles, are entered into

the play-in bracket.

Newport Beach’s Jamison Steele, Vanessa Dunlap and Bonnie Adams

are all entered into the play-in draw of the girls 18s singles field.

The girls 14s singles field includes locals Sara Legrand, Nicole

Wagner, Natalie Small, Nicole Legrand, Lindsay Zotovich, Christina

Schwartz, Anne Russell, Alexandra McIntosh and Rachel Cox.

Newport Beach residents Connor Curry and Edward Atkins, along with

Ryhaan Gill from Newport Coast and Costa Mesa’s Charlie Corum, will

compete in the boys 12s singles draw.

Newport Coast’s Joseph Di Giulio is seeded second in the boys 10s

singles draw and begins play at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Fountain

Valley Tennis Center. Costa Mesa’s Dante Saleh is also entered into

the draw.

Newport Beach resident Sara Cluck is the only local entered into

the girls 10s singles draw.

Tournament updates can be found at www.tennisinformation.com.