Boys’ Tennis: CdM won’t make CIF playoffs
Corona del Mar High boys’ tennis Coach Jamie Gresh changed some things up when his team played Northwood for the second time Monday.
Gresh put senior Tyler Gaede and sophomore Matt Paulsen in singles, and all three doubles teams were different from the first time the teams met in Pacific Coast League play.
In the end, the score was the same. Northwood won, 12-6, at the Sea Kings’ courts, clinching third place outright in league and denying Corona del Mar a place in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.
For the first time in recent memory, perhaps the first time in the history of the program, CdM will not advance to the postseason. League champion University, Beckman and Northwood take the three guaranteed spots from league. Even if there are at-large spots available in Division 1, CdM (8-10, 4-6 in league) does not have the .500 overall record necessary to apply for one.
“It was definitely harder this year,” said Johnny Rhone, one of five seniors honored on Monday’s senior day along with Gaede, Dan LaBruna, Blake Fesko and Ryan Andrews. “We didn’t have the talent of years past, but we gave it our all every match, and that’s all you can really ask for. We had a lot of young guys playing, like Matt [Paulsen] and Grant [Brown] moving up this year and playing really good at No. 3 doubles, and Jacob [Cooper], a freshman, playing singles. We did our best, but we just kind of came up short. Our league is really tough.”
Junior Bjorn Hoffmann swept at No. 1 singles for CdM, and the Sea Kings also swept the No. 3 doubles team of Northwood (5-5 in league). This was also true when the teams met for the first time in league, but once again, the Sea Kings couldn’t secure any other sets. They lost every round of the match, 4-2.
The first round was competitive. Gaede saved several set points against Jeff Mah but fell, 6-3, at No. 2 singles. Paulsen had a 4-3 lead at No. 3 singles before losing to Nick Wang, 6-4.
“That first round was big,” Gresh said. “We needed to get to at least 3-all, and it would have been a bonus if we were up 4-2. It just shows that Northwood is a deeper team than us … their top two doubles teams are really good, and we weren’t able to beat them in any of the sets we played against them this year. I think that was the biggest difference.”
The doubles teams of Kevin Wong and Nathan Nguyen, as well as Chris Wang and Akshay Hariskankar, both did sweep for Northwood. Adrian Nilsson-Redman, Mah and Nick Wang each won two singles sets.
CdM’s doubles teams of LaBruna and Oliver Kim, Cooper and Brown, as well as Rhone and Fesko, each won one set.
After also playing a tough nonleague schedule, CdM just did not have the depth to compete in the tough league which features University (ranked No. 3 in Division 1), Beckman (No. 8) and Northwood (No. 10). The Sea Kings played without Andrews, a two-year starter in singles, all year due to a foot condition called a neuroma.
CdM will compete at Pacific Coast League individual finals on Wednesday and Thursday at Woodbridge High. But the Sea Kings’ team season is complete.
“You can’t go every year and make it to CIF semifinals,” Gaede said. “I kind of felt going into the season that it was going to be a lot tougher. We knew a lot of people had to step up, and definitely a lot of people did … It was just a hard year, but I’m proud of how everyone stepped up.”
