Longoria’s Lightning win first league title

NEWPORT BEACH — Some had to sacrifice more than others, but the Sage Hill School boys’ tennis team clinched a share of its first Academy League title Friday at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

Lightning junior singles player Kevin Wang had already purchased a three-day pass to the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which also began Friday. He belatedly realized the conflict and was forced to sell his Friday ticket for a fraction of the cost he paid.

No regrets, though.

“It was definitely worth it,” Wang said after Sage Hill beat its rival, St. Margaret’s, 11-7, to clinch a share of the league title with Whitney.

Wang is still set to see Prince today at Coachella, and former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters on Sunday. By then, he and his teammates will probably still be tickled pink after the Lightning (13-9, 7-1 in league) finished as co-league champions following five straight years of second-place finishes. The last two were to the Tartans (9-9, 4-4).

“We’ve always come in second, which is tough,” said senior Grant Gerdau, who swept in doubles with sophomore Alex Koeberle on Friday. “We’ve had a couple of close ones in the last couple of years. Freshman year, we came in second place to Whitney, and my sophomore and junior year we came in second to St. Margaret’s. Finally, this year we were able to put it together.”

Sage junior Andrew Yun and freshman Andrew Kurzweil also swept in doubles for the Lightning, the top-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Division IV coaches’ poll.

“We were really excited to be here,” Yun said. “Every single time Whitney or St. Margaret’s comes up, we always just really want to play. [Kurzweil] is a freshman, so I never got to hit with him until this year. But the second I did, against Cerritos, I totally knew he’d be my partner.”

In all, Sage Hill won seven doubles sets, compared to just four when the Lightning beat the Tartans, 10-8, on April 8.

“I think what helped us was the experience we gained from last time we played them,” Koeberle said. “We understood their games much better, who we could pass down the line, who we needed to rally with. Without the learning curve, we definitely had an advantage. We knew how to play them. I think that’s an advantage of our doubles teams, that we’re pretty versatile.”

The Lightning cruised to a 5-1 lead after the first go-round, highlighted by junior Troy Astorino’s singles win against St. Margaret’s junior Michael Schnieder.

Astorino was down, 5-2, in the set before coming back to win in a tiebreaker.

“Troy uses a serve-and-volley game, and that’s what I played,” Sage Hill Coach A.G. Longoria said. “I’ve been working with him for two years on it. He’s had three matches this year where he’s been down 5-2 and come back. He’s coming in and missing the volley by a little bit, but then he keeps coming in and he puts it together. He’s peaking at the right time, so he’s getting a lot more confident with that kind of game.”

Longoria, who has been the boys’ and girls’ tennis coach at Sage Hill since the school opened, has won five Academy League championships with the girls.

The first one with the boys, then, was pretty satisfying.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “The girls have won five, and for the boys, it’s a monkey off their back. They’re proud of our girls, but I think they’re also a little bit jealous of them.”

Whitney will still technically get the Academy League’s top playoff seeding, Longoria said, because Whitney won more total sets in the teams’ two head-to-head meetings they split. But it’s Sage Hill that will enter the playoffs as the top-ranked team, and try to end another streak.

The Lightning have lost in the CIF quarterfinals for five straight years.

But their first league title — even if it was shared — has given them confidence for the postseason.

“We’re No. 1 now,” Koeberle said. “Last year, Viewpoint destroyed us in the quarters [15-3]. Now it’s kind of like, on any given day we can beat every single team, and we probably will.

“Winning CIF should be a goal for us.”

Sage Hill now prepares for the league singles and doubles tournament, beginning Wednesday.

Academy League

Sage Hill 11, St. Margaret’s 7

Singles – Sethi (SH) lost to Kaliannan, 0-6, lost to Schnieder, 2-6, def. Marmelstein, 6-1; Astorino (SH) lost, 0-6, won, 7-6 (10-8), (sub) Batten (SH) won, 6-3; Wang (SH) lost, 3-6, 4-6, won, 6-0.

Doubles – Yun-Kurzweil (SH) def. Waller-Wang, 6-0, def. Gaarenstroom-Geller, 6-1, def. Cheng-Melkonian, 6-2; Koeberle-Gerdau (SH) won, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3; Fayngor-Marshack (SH) lost, 6-7, 2-6, won, 6-2.

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