Advantage, doubles title to CdM

SEAL BEACH ? Corona del Mar High junior Dustin Hladek had plenty of words for himself during the CIF Southern Section boys’ tennis doubles championship match.

He yelled at himself. He hit balls into the fence out of frustration. And, at one point, he even dropkicked his racquet.

But by the end of his and teammate Fabian Matthews’ comeback 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Santa Barbara’s Chris Ho and Billy Grokenberger, Hladek had run out of things to say.

He let his exhausted smile do the talking.

“Speechless,” he said. “I don’t even know what to say ? no words.”

It was that kind of a day for Hladek and Matthews, who endured a pair of thrilling three-set matches to win the championship. The duo become the eighth Sea Kings doubles team to win a Southern Section crown.

For most of the match against the top-ranked Santa Barbara duo, it didn’t look good. Corona del Mar lost the first set, 6-3, and Matthews was down 40-love on his serve at 2-3 in the second set.

“We thought we were going to get killed,” Matthews said.

But he rallied to hold serve, bringing it back to 3-3.

Hladek’s crosscourt backhand winner broke Ho’s serve, then he held serve for a 5-3 edge and Matthews held a game later to tie the match at one set apiece.

The Sea King duo fell behind again in the third set, 4-1, as Hladek was broken for the third time in the match.

It was the last game that Ho and Grokenberger ? who won the Ojai Invitational last month ? would win. Matthews held, the Sea Kings broke serve, then Hladek got an important hold to tie the score at 4-4.

“The key was Dustin finally holding his serve,” said Corona del Mar coach Tim Mang. “I said, ‘Just toss it six inches higher’ ? He was just frustrated all match, but he just hung in there. Then I saw Fabian relax a little bit, but Dustin stepped up.”

“That’s what they’ve been doing the whole tournament.”

With Ho serving, the ninth game of the set was a marathon. It went to five deuces before Hladek’s solid return forced a Santa Barbara shot long, making it 5-4, Corona del Mar.

“I was just hitting my returns back, and suddenly they seemed to have no answer for us,” Hladek said.

Mang said he had given his team some advice on the previous changeover.

“I told them they had to change pace on these guys,” Mang said. “(Santa Barbara) liked hard-hit balls, so change pace and keep in the points. So we threw them a couple of lobs, and these guys were totally off-balance. They played smart tennis.”

Serving it out, Matthews went to deuce as well. But on ad-in, Hladek’s slam gave the delighted duo a title.

In semifinal action from earlier in the day, it was another close match for Matthews and Hladek against Troy’s Jeffrey Kamei and Brian Fang. After easily winning the first set, Hladek and Matthews were both broken twice in the second set and the Sea Kings fell, 6-3, to set up a decisive third set.

Up, 5-3, in the final set, Matthews was serving ? usually a good sign. But the Sea Kings were down, 30-40, in the game before their point of the day.

Kamei’s net-court volley appeared destined to drop, which would put the teams back on serve. However, Hladek showed his good hands, quickly recovering and somehow flipping the ball back over the net. Troy returned it, but then Matthews hit his own winning volley to an open space.

“I was freaking out right there,” Matthews said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is so close.’ But anyone could have hit my volley; (Hladek) got that get and it was just crazy.”

Three points later, Matthews served it out and the Sea Kings had advanced to the final.

So what does one do after winning a CIF Southern Section doubles championship? Matthews, a sophomore, and Hladek, a junior, had an idea.

“Next year, we’ve got to defend our title,” Hladek said.