Sea Kings enter ’05 sans Ball

Chris Yemma

Just when exactly is a tennis team too good?

When the star player is too good to play for the high school team.

Carsten Ball, the No. 1 singles tennis player last year at Corona

del Mar High, will not be returning for his senior season as a Sea

King. CdM, a perennial tennis powerhouse and owner of three CIF

Southern Section Division I titles in the last six years, hosts

Brentwood today at 3 p.m. in its season opener.

Ball, at one point ranked No. 1 nationally in 18s boys singles by

the United States Tennis Association, is competing all over the world

in various tournaments.

The latest tournament he participated in, Uncle Toby’s Tour in

Gosford, Australia, he lost in the round of 32 to Australia’s Shannon

Nettle, ranked No. 383 in the world.

But Ball’s rise to tennis stardom was the downfall of the Sea

Kings last season. Top-seeded Corona del Mar was a shoo-in to win a

second straight CIF title with Ball, but the tennis star couldn’t

make it back from a USTA tournament in Texas in time for the

quarterfinals.

CdM, the Pacific Coast League champion, lost to Loyola, 11-7, in

the quarters, ending what most likely would have been a championship

year. This season, the Sea Kings know they will be without Ball. But

another rising star is emerging on the CdM squad.

“I think we can be stronger [this year],” CdM Coach Tim Mang said.

“We have more depth than last year.”

Senior Wesley Miller, ranked No. 18 nationally in 18s singles,

will be returning to lead the singles charge. With Ball, Miller and

Spencer Reitz last season, CdM arguably had the best singles lineup

in the Southern Section.

This year, a freshman has been added and will be competing for the

No. 2 singles spot with Reitz. Fabian Mathews, ranked No. 53 in 14s,

will be helping to fill a void left behind by Ball.

“[Ball] was an automatic three points and probably more because

everyone was stronger with him there,” Mang said. “With a team leader

that good, everyone’s better. You can do more things in the lineup

with him there.”

CdM’s doubles play, something Mang said was a bit of a weakness

last season, has been remodeled this year. Newcomer Matt Chou, who

sat out his junior season, will be teamed up with Ryan Coughren for

the No. 1 doubles team. As a freshman at University, Chou won the

Pacific Coast League doubles title.

Robert Koury and Jonathan Kroopf will be in the No. 2 doubles

position, with Alex Nguyen and Brent Pham teaming up at No. 3

doubles.

A strategy Mang said he might employ from time to time, would be

to put Reitz on a doubles team. But the majority of the time he will

be playing singles.

“The main thing lacking last year was doubles,” Mang said. “But we

have more depth in doubles now. Sometimes, if I want to beef up

doubles, I’ll put [Reitz] in.”

CdM opens its season playing top teams that it will probably

encounter in the postseason. Brentwood, CdM’s first opponent, lost in

the Division IV semifinals last year. Its second opponent, Beverly

Hills, lost in the Division I quarterfinals. And Mater Dei, another

early match (Mar. 8), also lost in the Division I quarterfinals.

“We always make it a point to play the best teams in the state,”

Mang said.

Mang said the top four teams this year will probably be

Harvard-Westlake, CdM, Santa Barbara and Woodbridge, all teams the

Sea Kings are likely to face in the playoffs. It is still unclear

whether Woodbridge will have its top player, Michael McClune.