No Sea King surprises on Saturday

NEWPORT BEACH ? On Friday, Corona del Mar High boys’ tennis Coach Tim Mang’s planning worked to perfection. Saturday? Not so much.

The Sea Kings’ hopes of an upset against top-seeded Dana Hills at the National High School Tennis All-American Boys’ Invitational faded quickly in an 8-1 semifinal loss. They followed it up with a 7-2 loss to Brentwood in the third-place match at Palisades Tennis Club.

The final result was only a slight disappointment for Mang, whose team was unseeded entering the tournament. It was the second consecutive fourth-place finish for the Sea Kings after a three-year win streak in the invitational.

After seeing all the pieces fall into place against a 5-4 upset of No. 4-seeded Santa Barbara, Mang was hopeful that lightning would strike once more in the semifinals, with the No. 1 singles player Fabian Matthews leading the charge.

“We were planning on winning against Dana Hills,” Mang said. “I thought we’d win at No. 1 singles, obviously, and No. 1 doubles. After that, my No. 3 doubles was playing really well and they were undefeated, so I was thinking three [points] there.

“Before that match, my No. 6 singles was undefeated and so was my No. 3 singles, so I said, ‘There it is. If you can come through one more time, we’re in it,’ and obviously they didn’t.”

It wasn’t for a lack of effort. Corona del Mar took at least four games in every set, and three of the losses were by two games or less.

“Dana Hill, we were really close,” singles player Jonathan Kroopf said. “All the matches were really close. We had a chance.”

Matthews tallied the Sea Kings’ lone win against the Dolphins, rolling past Stefan Simikic, 8-1.

That win, however, would prove to be his last appearance for Corona del Mar on Saturday. The sophomore had to go up to Long Beach for a junior tournament match that couldn’t be rescheduled.

“When he’s gone, we don’t have a lot of depth,” Mang said. “We thought they might be able to cooperate with us because it was only one match, but they didn’t.”

Matthews’ absence moved everyone up one notch in the Sea Kings’ lineup for the third-place match against Brentwood, a team they had lost to, 13-5, in their season opener.

The Eagles settled the match in singles, taking five of six sets. Kroopf, moved up to No. 1 singles, lost to Daniel Freeman, 8-5. Parker Rhodes, playing No. 2 singles, stayed on serve with Jeff Karsh until Karsh broke serve and went on a 5-0 run to end the set.

Dustin Hladek defeated Evan Paley, 8-4, at No. 5 singles for the Sea Kings.

With the winner already determined, both coaches cleared their benches for the doubles matches. Chris Damion and Josh Kim gave Corona del Mar another victory, defeating Arden Lloyd and Matt Plonsker, 7-5, at No. 2 doubles.

The mood afterward wasn’t gloomy so much as it was hopeful.

“We’re happy to get fourth,” Kroopf said. “We showed that we have a chance in CIF.”

The Sea Kings also showed they have some resilience, having played seven tough matches over the last five days. Corona del Mar won four of the matches, including a 10-8 win over Woodbridge earlier in the week.

“I’m really proud of these guys,” Mang said. “This year, we started slow and we’re healing up a couple of guys. There’s going to be people saying Corona del Mar’s back. Obviously, we proved it here.”

Mang’s team returns to action Tuesday with a 3 p.m. Pacific Coast League match at home against Tesoro.

Torrey Pines won the tournament title with a 7-2 victory over Dana Hills.