Langevin set the standard for Lightning

His four-year high school tennis career and four-year high school academic career both could end on the same day.

Friday, to be exact.

Sage Hill School senior Adam Langevin will graduate that evening at 6 at the school’s Newport Coast campus. Earlier in the day, he will compete in the CIF Southern Section Boys’ Tennis Individuals round of 16 and possibly the quarterfinals. He is the first Sage Hill boys tennis player to advance to Seal Beach.

It’s a busy day, but it’s one that Langevin has earned.

This is the first time that Langevin has made it this far in Individuals. This was also the first year he won the Academy League singles title, after three straight years as the runner-up.

He has been at No. 1 singles for all four years of his high school tennis career, which is a rarity. But the team captain has had a particularly impressive senior season at Sage. He lost just three times in singles all year: to Max McKennon of Newport Harbor in a nonleague match, to Kento Perera of San Marcos in the Ojai Tournament round of 16 and to Jansen Comadena of Redlands in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.

The Lightning (16-2) lost that match to Redlands, 10-8, and then watched the Terriers go on to win the Division 2 title. But Langevin can’t complain too much, about his season or his team’s success. Really, the two go hand in hand.

“Individually, I’ve had an amazing season,” he said. “I had a lot more fun this year than a lot of my other years, especially because the incoming students were extremely talented. We had [freshman] Rohun [Krishnan], and [junior] Ian [Huang] worked really hard to get really good, so he was a good hitting partner. And [sophomore] Emin [Torlic] has been training all year too.

“This year, I had a lot of competition, even within our own team. That makes it a lot more enjoyable. When I came in with a freshman, I was a star player and no one could even compare. No one came close. It’s a very different environment when you have competitors and you’re out there training, and you know you’re getting better. It also helps the team morale, too.”

The Lightning accomplished big things, going undefeated in league to claim their second straight title. They also beat Corona del Mar for the first time in program history. In that match, first-year Sage Hill coach Zoran Korac put Langevin in doubles. The strategy worked as he swept with Steven Ferry.

“Adam is one of the hardest workers I know,” Korac said. “He wants to play, he wants to get out there, he wants to get better. That’s definitely something that I could always rely on, to help the younger guys, to help our doubles teams. When I needed someone to help out with doubles, Adam was there. When I needed to take him out of singles and put him into doubles with a lesser player, Adam was there. Everything I’ve asked Adam to do and to help out with, he was there.”

Langevin will attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the fall, and try to walk on to the tennis team. If it doesn’t happen as a freshman, he said he’s confident he can make it as a sophomore. Plus, he said he plans to get his Masters at Cal Poly as well, which would give him another year of eligibility with the Mustangs.

“I’m training all year,” said Langevin, who turned 19 on Thursday. “I’m not going to stop training.”

That’s the kind of attitude that Korac likes to see. It has helped set the tone for Sage Hill, which should again be good in the immediate future as this year’s squad was mostly freshmen and sophomores.

Korac knows that Langevin will be busy on Friday, and he understands. He was a standout player at San Marino High, where he won the prestigious Ojai tournament CIF singles title in 1999.

“The day I won Ojai, I had prom that night,” Korac said. “I remember vividly that I was driving back in my Acura Integra, and I had the Ojai medal around my rear-view mirror. I was so happy, so proud.”

Langevin also can be proud of his accomplishments. He will even be trying to stretch his high school tennis career one more day. The CIF Individuals singles semifinals and final are on Saturday.

Again, Langevin gives plenty of credit to his teammates for helping him get to his current position.

“I loved how the team grew all four years to my senior year,” he said. “I was further away from everybody else my freshman year than I was my senior year. Rohun is easily really close to my level … If you’re the No. 1 or the 2 on the team, it’s hard to improve if you have a large gap. You need someone that gives you a challenge. You need to be able to think your way out of trouble.”

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo