Sage dumps Tartans

NEWPORT BEACH — The Sage Hill School boys’ tennis team may be hurting with players dealing with injuries and other nagging pain. But leave it to a rivalry match to bring out the best in the Lightning.

Sage Hill exacted some revenge and finished second in the Academy League after beating St. Margaret’s, 11-7, in the league finale at The Tennis Club Friday.

The Lightning (7-10, 6-2 in league, ranked No. 9 in the CIF Southern Section Division IV rankings, lost a tight match against the Tartans (9-9, 4-3) April 13. The teams tied, 9-9, but St. Margaret’s won, 76-73, on games.

This time around, players like Andrew Kurzweil made sure there wouldn’t be a tie. Kurzweil swept at No. 2 singles for the Lightning.

In his first match, he beat Nick Geller, 7-5. Then he took out Michael Friedman, 6-3. To complete his sweep he beat Alex Ramadan, 6-2.

“This time we were motivated to win,” said Kurzweil, who had been dealing with a leg injury earlier this season. “This is pretty big. We have been really hot lately especially in singles and we have a couple doubles team’s clicking.”

The No. 1 doubles team of Alex Manolakas and Kevin Marshack were definitely clicking. The Sage Hill duo swept.

Manolakas and Marshack beat Justin Cheng and Andrew Torok 6-4. They were also successful in beating Felipe Soto and Trevor Yorke, 6-1. They completed the sweep, winning, 6-0, against Mitchell Marmelstein and Michael Kartiko.

“Having played our best game right now, I hope we make a really good run into [the playoffs],” Manolakas said.

Marshack was also pleased with the team’s performance against St. Margaret’s.

“We felt confident that we could get the job done,” Marshack said.

In addition to Kurzweil’s injury, the Lightning have also seen Orion Wise deal with pain, as he has been out most of the season with a back injury.

Overall, Sage Hill Coach A.G. Longoria was happy with his team’s performance against visiting St. Margaret’s.

“We have a very strong team; it was great beating our rival, St. Margaret’s,” said Longoria, who was impressed with Kurzweil’s effort. “He swept in singles here against Whitney and the match before that against Oxford [Academy], so he’s is on a roll.”

As the Lightning heal, Longoria believes Sage Hill is entering the postseason with momentum.

Meanwhile, St. Margaret’s Coach Rick Trager was left telling his Tartans they needed to work on closing out matches.

The Lightning will compete in the individual league finals, which start Tuesday at The Tennis Club.

Whitney finished as the league champion.