CdM, Sage Hill get No. 3 seeds
Unlike in previous years, Corona del Mar High is preparing for the playoffs only as a boys’ tennis team.
Coach Brian Ricker just has to prepare the Sea Kings for the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs after no boy advanced to the section individual tournament.
The Sea Kings might be in this together for some time. They enter the postseason as the No. 3 seed, making it possible for a deep run for the second straight season.
CdM is one of four local teams on Monday that learned its postseason draw when pairings were announced. Sage Hill School is the No. 3 seed in Division III, while Costa Mesa and Estancia are in Division IV.
The Sea Kings (15-4) and the Lightning (18-7) have the best shot to go far. Both reached the semifinals last season, CdM for the first time in five years and Sage Hill for the first time in the program’s history.
The first round for area teams is Wednesday at 3 p.m.
The Sea Kings open with Sunny Hills (12-5). This matchup features two second-place teams, CdM out of the competitive Pacific Coast League and Sunny Hills from the Freeway League.
Coach A.G. Longoria is confident his Lightning can return to the semis. The Academy League champion Lightning are senior-laden and boast one of the top singles players in the division in junior Robbe Simon.
Sage Hill opens at home against the winner of Tuesday’s wild-card match between Corona and John Glenn of Norwalk. Corona (11-6) plays host to Glenn (9-11) at 3 p.m.
Costa Mesa (7-4) travels to Silverado of Victorville. The Mustangs finished second in the Orange Coast League and Silverado (19-0) won the Desert Sky League.
Estancia (7-11) is at Keppel of Alhambra. The Eagles placed third in the Orange Coast League and Keppel (12-2) shared the top spot in the Almont League, but received the league’s No. 1 berth into the playoffs.
Both Estancia and Costa Mesa have tough matches. That is not the case for the Sea Kings and Lightning, who should easily get past the first round.
The first challenge for CdM will be in the quarterfinals, where it expects to see Harvard-Westlake of North Hollywood. The Wolverines (18-4) finished the regular season ranked fifth in the Division I coaches’ poll.
Of the Sea Kings’ four losses this season, two have come against top-seeded University (16-0), one against second-seeded Palos Verdes (14-0), and one against Palm Desert (16-1), the No. 1 seed in Division II.
Shane Korber, who only has seven singles setbacks this year, leads CdM. The Georgetown-bound senior is recovering from a sinus infection that caused him to finish fourth at the Pacific Coast League finals last week.
The Academy League finals were kind to Sage Hill.
Simon won the singles title and the top doubles team of Andrew Kurzweil and Alex Manolakas repeated as champions last week. Longoria is counting on the trio to help the Lightning in the playoffs.
Sage Hill moved up a division after competing in Division IV last season.
“We don’t know what to expect because there are some schools that we haven’t played before,” Longoria said.
One school Sage Hill has faced is top-seeded Temecula Valley (19-0).
During the first week of the season at the Lightning Invitational, Sage Hill lost to Temecula Valley, 5-4, in a match played with the college format. But the Lightning played without Simon, who Longoria said had tendinitis in his shoulder.
Longoria said the shoulder no longer bothers Simon and he is not worried about it. Longoria is also not concerned about Sage Hill’s first-round opponent.
When asked if he planned to travel to Corona to scout the wild-card match against Glenn, Longoria said there was no reason to make such a trip.
“We sort of know what they have,” Longoria said of Corona and Glenn, which finished tied for second in the Big VIII League and fourth in the Suburban League, respectively. “We’re going to concentrate more on what we do.”