Hoffmann back in Ojai semis

OJAI — Corona del Mar High senior Bjorn Hoffmann got a nice compliment from La Mesa Helix tennis Coach Jay Diaz late Friday morning.

After Hoffmann beat Helix freshman Siem Woldeab, 6-1, 6-4, in a round of 16 CIF singles division match at the 116th annual Ojai Tennis Tournament, Diaz made sure to tell Hoffmann how much he appreciated the way he carried himself and his good sportsmanship.

It’s easy to root for Bjorn. It wasn’t easy for Bjorn to advance in the draw. He got a tough one, despite being a tournament finalist last year as a junior. After beating Woldeab, Hoffmann had to go against the tournament’s top seed, Jacob Brumm of Torrey Pines.

The supposed reasoning is that Hoffmann, who is ranked No. 18 in the Southern California boys’ 18s, doesn’t play as many junior tournaments as the other top competitors. Still, the draw raised an eyebrow for the Cal-bound Hoffmann.

“I thought it was a little bit inconsistent on the seeding committee’s part, since [former Harvard-Westlake standout] Michael Genender didn’t even have a Southern California ranking last year and was seeded No. 1,” Hoffmann said. “A little bit of shame on the seeding committee, but that’s all right, no worries. You have to play them all eventually ... Whatever. It’s fine. There are worse problems in the world.”

CdM Coach Jamie Gresh said he believes that Hoffmann could have gotten a top four seed. But, as Gresh said, “You don’t have to beat 63 guys, you have to beat six.”

Hoffmann only has two more to go.

He rallied to stun Brumm, 7-5, 6-2, at the Thacher School to advance to the semifinals. Hoffmann will play Billy Rowe of Coronado at 8 a.m. Saturday at Libbey Park South. No. 2-seeded Connor Hance of Peninsula will play Cody Lin of Westlake in the other semifinal match.

The title match is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, also at Libbey Park.

Two other local juniors remain alive in their chase for an Ojai title. Max McKennon of Newport Beach, the No. 1 seed in the boys’ 14s, eased to the semifinals Friday. He beat No. 9-seeded Ethan Ha of Carpinteria, 6-1, 6-0, before blanking Corey Marley of Los Angeles, 6-0, 6-0. McKennon will play No. 5-seeded Daniel Zhou of Alhambra at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Thacher School.

Newport Beach resident Mackenzie Worsnop had to rally in both her girls’ 18 singles matches Friday. The unseeded Worsnop beat No. 5-seeded Mahli Silpachai of Newbury Park, 2-6, 7-6, 6-2. She then got past Hermehr Kaur of Redlands, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1. Worsnop will play Tatum Burger of Colorado in a semifinal match Saturday at 8 a.m., also at Thacher School.

For Hoffmann, the CIF singles win over Brumm was definitely significant, especially after falling behind 4-1 in the first set.

“I was down 1-4, and it sounds like there’s a big gap there, but it was really just one break,” Hoffmann said. “He came out serving pretty well ... but I really got it together and made him play a lot of balls. I don’t think I missed very many returns. I tried to make him play, and I was keeping up, moving well. I made him play enough balls where he broke down a little bit, and I think I rose up pretty well.

“I thought I had a really good combination of defense and then offense when I needed it. I thought I executed that really well.”

Hoffmann saved two set points while serving at 4-5. He won the next game on a cross-court forehand winner, before serving out the set.

Hoffmann broke Brumm’s serve in the third game of the second set. Then, serving at 3-2, he finally held serve in a marathon game that featured several deuces. From there, he was able to close out the match.

“That was the swing game,” Gresh said. “I felt like it was just such a tug of war. It just goes to show you, when there’s two good players it’s so hard to win two points in a row ... I thought [Hoffmann] did a great job of staying really mentally tough, just playing the right patterns at the crucial moments. I thought he served his way out of trouble a lot today. We talked a lot about serve location. Jacob’s a phenomenal returner, and I thought Bjorn served extremely smart and hit some spots to set up some shorter balls.”

On Saturday, Hoffmann will try to become the first CdM player since Michael Briggs in 1987 to win the CIF singles division title at the prestigious tournament.

“It feels really good to be back in the semis,” he said. “This whole experience is so much fun. The whole Ojai experience kind of gave me that much more drive to win that match [against Brumm], and now on to [Saturday].

McKennon, in his first year playing at The Ojai, also has to like his chances. The lefty will be a freshman at Newport Harbor High next year and will also have the chance to play at Libbey Park if he wins on Saturday morning.

“That would be pretty great,” McKennon said. “[This tournament] is pretty special.”

Other local juniors lost Friday. CdM’s Pedro and Diego Fernandez del Valle lost a tough CIF doubles round of 16 match to Alexander Rushin and Sreeganesh Manoharan of Torrey Pines, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6).

CdM’s Danielle Willson, the No. 5 seed in the girls’ 18s, made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Cali Jankowski of Carlsbad, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. And CdM’s Siena Sharf and partner Layla Rodriguez lost to No. 2-seeded Alyssa Rudin and Martina Bocchi in a girls’ 18 doubles semifinal match, 6-4, 6-1.

In boys’ 16 singles, No. 9-seeded Austin Di Giulio of Newport Beach lost to top-seeded Jake Sands of Pacific Palisades, 6-1, 6-0, in a round of 16 match.