Boys’ Tennis: Sage Hill makes history
Just after the match ended, longtime Sage Hill School tennis head coach A.G. Longoria called over first-year coach Zoran Korac.
“Tell your guys, no gloating until they leave,” Longoria said.
The Lightning boys’ tennis players celebrated their win on Thursday responsibly. Still, there was no doubt they were excited. They posed for pictures in front of the LED scoreboard at their tennis courts.
Korac spent some time last year watching Corona del Mar play as his nephew, Bjorn Hoffmann, was a senior. But on Thursday, his team accomplished something that no Sage Hill tennis team had ever done before, and it came at CdM’s expense.
The Lightning edged CdM, 10-8, to record their first win in program history against the Sea Kings in either boys’ or girls’ tennis.
It was a big upset victory for Sage Hill (6-1), which wants to move up from its current ranking of No. 5 in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 polls. CdM (10-4) is ranked No. 8 in Division 1.
But more than that, it was a kind of statement win for Sage Hill, which got a singles sweep from sophomore Emin Torlic and a doubles sweep from senior Adam Langevin and sophomore Steven Ferry.
Korac said it felt good to beat CdM. Two weeks ago, the Lightning placed 16th — last — in the National High School All-American Tournament that CdM hosts. Korac was not able to attend the tournament, nor was freshman singles player Rohun Krishnan, who won twice Thursday.
“It means a lot, playing against a really good school like CdM, after having a little bit of a disappointing All-American [Tournament],” Korac said. “We had not the greatest showing, but this means a lot, for them to start believing in themselves and also make a big statement in the Division 2 standings. We’re ready, and we’re for real.”
Sage Hill won each of the first two rounds against CdM, 4-2. The Sea Kings were a bit shorthanded, as sophomore No. 1 singles player Kyle Pham is still out with an ankle injury, and senior doubles starter Grant Brown was on a school trip in Sacramento. But take nothing away from the Lightning, who simply played better in the big moments.
With Sage Hill up in sets, 6-4, in the second round, the two remaining sets on court went to tiebreakers. The Lightning won both. First, Langevin and Ferry rallied from a 4-1 deficit to get past CdM’s Luke Muradliyan and Trenton Rhodes, 7-6 (9-7).
A couple of minutes later, Sage junior Ian Huang outlasted CdM freshman John Dick, 7-6 (7-1), in singles. The Lightning had an 8-4 sets advantage after two rounds.
CdM Coach Jamie Gresh said he was surprised that the Lightning put Langevin, their top singles player, in doubles. But he is also the team’s best doubles player, Korac said. Langevin and Ferry swept, 6-4, 7-6, 6-2, on the day.
“We were down 4-6 and we lost two tiebreakers,” Gresh said. “I thought we fought really well to get there, but just didn’t get over the finish line. Sage played the bigger points better; they won the closer sets ... They played a really good lineup, with one super-strong doubles team and a good singles lineup. They just outplayed us, flat out. They outplayed us.”
The Lightning finished off the win quickly in the third round. Torlic finished off his sweep with a 6-1 win over CdM freshman Ari Abrams, and Langevin and Ferry got past CdM’s Matt Paulsen and John Hart, 6-2.
The CdM doubles teams of Jacob Cooper and Ryan Wessler, Paulsen and Hart, as well as Muradliyan and Rhodes, all won twice, easily beating Sage’s No. 2 and 3 doubles teams. Diego Fernandez del Valle and Dick each won one singles set for the Sea Kings, but it wasn’t enough.
Krishnan’s 7-5 victory over Fernandez del Valle in the first round also loomed large as the Lightning topped the Sea Kings for the first time ever.
“I know from experience that CdM, for a long time, is one of the best schools in the country for tennis,” Langevin said. “They’ve had some of the best players, they’ve had the best coaching. They were the SoCal team to beat ... to have the opportunity to compete against a team that very often has those kind of players and win, it’s really showing that Sage is going somewhere.
“If you go [to the CdM tennis courts], they’ve got rows on rows on rows of All-American championship [boards], CIF champions, CIF Individuals champions. My coach [Taylor Dent] is up there, some amazing players are up there. To play a team of that level, of that lineage, and win? That’s huge for a school that’s so new. We have one CIF banner [for winning the CIF Southern Section Division 3 title in 2011].”
Sage Hill, which plays at Crean Lutheran on Tuesday, hopes to add another one this year in Division 2. As for CdM, the Sea Kings have next week off for spring break. Their next match is at Woodbridge on April 18.
“A tough loss going into spring break, for sure,” Gresh said. “Maybe this will motivate the guys and give them a good wake-up call. When you lose, it’s always a good wake-up call, and we had one today.”
Twitter: @mjszabo
