Advertisement

Sage Hill eases past Newport Harbor in boys’ tennis

Share

Even within a lopsided team match, there are individual battles to be had.

Newport Harbor High senior boys’ tennis player Andy Myers found himself in three close sets in Thursday’s nonleague match at Sage Hill.

Myers lost to Sage Hill senior Ian Huang 7-6 in the first round. He rebounded, defeating Sage freshman Adam Hung 7-5 in the second round, before suffering a close 6-4 loss to Sage Hill’s Rohun Krishnan in the third round.

“He’s been a really influential leader for us,” Newport Harbor coach Kristen Case said of Myers. “He stays calm, cool and collected when he competes.”

Advertisement

All three sets occurred on the court that a large electronic scoreboard hangs over at Sage Hill. The numbers on the scoreboard showed the Lightning’s team progression in each round. Both rounds were over relatively quickly, except for Myers’ sets.

Sage Hill dominated the match, winning by a 15-3 score.

Krishnan, a sophomore, swept at No. 1 singles for the Lightning (3-2), as did Huang at No. 2 singles. Hung won once at No. 3 singles before he had to leave early, leading to Sage Hill forfeiting a singles set in the third round.

Sage Hill played without one of its top singles players Thursday, as coach Zoran Korac said that junior Emin Torlic was out sick. That made him a bit nervous before the match, but the Lightning managed to earn the easy win.

“We lost to Newport Harbor last year 10-8, and when someone beats you, you have to take them real serious,” Korac said.

Matthew Strok and Robert Gerschultz swept in doubles for the Lightning, who won eight doubles sets. The tandems of Ryan Ha and Brian Yu, as well as Manu Nanda and Jerry Fu, each won once before they were subbed out. The substitute team of Alex Christiano and William Stomber won twice, while Darius Shayan-Smith and Daniel Min won once.

The Sailors are playing this season without last year’s Daily Pilot Boys’ Tennis Dream Team Player of the Year, Max McKennon, who Case said is being home-schooled as a sophomore. Myers is the team’s only returning starter and one of three team captains, along with Ace Thayer and Nick Nataupsky.

Josh Watkins, a junior transfer who played at Sage Hill as a freshman, has been another standout singles player for the Sailors. Playing against his former team, Watkins lost to Krishnan and Huang by scores of 6-2 and 6-1 respectively, before his forfeit win in the third round.

Newport Harbor (5-3) won its only doubles set in the third round. Tim Shannon and Julian Hernandez beat Shayan-Smith and Min, 6-4.

Sage Hill continues Academy League action at Crean Lutheran on March 23, while Newport Harbor plays host to Estancia in a nonleague match Tuesday.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo

Advertisement