Lightning ease past Linfield

Koeberle hit two solid overheads to win a point, and his Lightning teammates yelled encouragement. His shot hit the net and just trickled wide, and his teammates let out a groan.

“It’s shot after shot with this guy,” senior Karam Sethi said with a smile.

But even though it was in the second go-round, there wasn’t much to be nervous about. The Lightning were in the midst of a dominating 16-2 win over Linfield Christian at Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

Sage Hill (11-10) faces San Gabriel on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the second round. A coin flip will determine the host.

The Lightning’s win made senior Martin Park happy, even if his sinuses didn’t. Park finished fourth in the Academy League singles tournament on Saturday, but said he hadn’t played in six days as he battled a cold and sore throat.

He won two singles sets against Linfield before Lightning junior Nicolas Russo-Larsson subbed in to win the third. Park, Russo-Larsson, Koeberle and Sethi combined to win all nine sets against Linfield Christian of Temecula which, in its first year of varsity boys’ tennis, was the second-place team in the Sunbelt League.

Sage Hill has lost in the quarterfinals of CIF for the past four seasons. They’re not quite at that stage yet, but Thursday’s win was an impressive start.

“I think this is the year where we’re going to have to make some noise,” Park said. “This is the best team that we’ve had since Sage Hill School started. I think we have the right combination this year to make it far and hopefully we can break that quarterfinal streak.”

The Lightning are also deep. In doubles, sophomore Kevin Wang and freshman Karl Fletcher won twice, with senior Justin Rispler subbing in to win the third set with Fletcher. Senior Robert Schaus, a transfer from Chicago, won twice with junior partner Grant Gerdau.

Senior Robert Wee and sophomore Andrew Yun, at No. 3 doubles, also won two sets. Wee finished second in the Academy League in singles last season, but said the transformation to doubles hasn’t been too bad.

Like Park, he also thinks this may be the Lightning’s year to go far, even though they finished the year as just the No. 7-ranked team in Division IV.

“I was pretty convinced that we would have a better seeding,” Wee said. “But I don’t think about it too much nowadays. You have to bring your ‘A’ game and that’s all you can do. I just want to keep the season going.”

So does Longoria. That’s why, after the match, he told his players that they would have to bump the intensity up to another level on Saturday.

“There are 16 teams left out of the 97 who started in Division IV,” he said. “We have to be more intense. This is going to get exponentially harder.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.

CIF Southern Section

Division IV Playoffs

First round -- Park (SH) def. Edgue, 6-2, (sub) Russo-Larsson (SH) def. Cho, 6-3, Park def. Combs, 6-0; Koeberle (SH) won, 6-1, 6-3, 7-5; Sethi (SH) def. (sub) Burke (LC), 6-0, won, 6-4, 6-4.

Sage Hill 16, Linfield Christian 2

Singles

Doubles -- Wang-Fletcher (SH) def. Combs-Mandrayer, 6-3, (sub) Rispler-Fletcher (SH) def. Frederick-Lapke, 6-2, Wang-Fletcher def. Massey - Meyer, 6-3; (sub) Gerdau - Schaus (SH) won, 6-2, Astorino - Schaus lost, 4-6, Gerdau - Schaus won, 6-2; Wee-Yun (SH) lost, 4-6, won, 6-0, 6-2.

NEWPORT BEACH — The way his teammates were cheering for Sage Hill School freshman Alex Koeberle, one might have thought Thursday’s CIF Southern Section Division IV first-round boys’ tennis match was on the line.