Boys’ Tennis Preview: Plenty of excitement on courts for city squads
Though the St. Francis High tennis team didn’t qualify for the playoffs last season following a four-year postseason run, there proved to be plenty of buzz surrounding the Golden Knights.
Jack and Ian Freer embarked on an amazing campaign that saw the brothers make deep runs in doubles at the Ojai Invitational, Mission League Tournament and CIF Southern Section Individual Tournament.
The Freers advanced to the semifinals at Ojai, the finals in league and the semifinals at CIF en route to being named the All-Area Boys’ Doubles Team of the Year.
Jack Freer graduated, yet Ian Freer will return in full force looking to get St. Francis back in the playoff equation.
“They had such a great run last year and I think it really lifted the program going forward,” St. Francis coach Ron Zambrano said. “We know we can count on Ian and he’s been playing some great tennis of late at tournaments each week.
“There’s excitement around the team right now. We have some freshmen on board and we have returners who have experience. It should be a good mix of talent and depth.”
St. Francis took fifth in league last season and will look to challenge for a playoff berth while competing against traditional powers Harvard-Westlake, Loyola and Chaminade.
Freer, a junior, will be the Golden Knights’ No. 1 singles player. He went 24-6 in singles and 13-3 in doubles last season. The Golden Knights will bring back senior Shahan Derbedrosian, who will play singles and doubles.
“We’re looking good,” said Zambrano, whose team will remain in Division III after realignment. “There’s a lot of potential. Our doubles teams will be good and we know our league will be very tough again.”
Roger Hollomand assumes the coaching responsibilities from Morisa Yang at Flintridge Prep. Yang was selected All-Area Boys’ Tennis Coach of the Year after she guided the Rebels to a second-place finish in the Prep League, along with winning a wild-card match in Division III last season.
Flintridge Prep, which has made the playoffs two straight seasons, will bring back sophomore Derek Tran, who was named the All-Area Singles Player of the Year after finishing 33-9.
Joining Tran will be junior Gillis Linde and senior Ryan Lee in singles and senior Bobby Hansen in doubles. Linde was an All-Area honoree in doubles last season after teaming with Christian Yeghnazar to go 38-4.
“We’ve had some early practices and things are going good,” Hollomand said. “We have a strong top three and some others who are just beginning.
“We’ll shoot for a top-two finish in league and get back to CIF.”
Flintridge Prep will be in Division IV this season.
At La Cañada, the pieces appear in place for the Spartans to contend for the Rio Hondo League title. San Marino won the league crown last season.
The Spartans, who took second in league last season and will remain in Division I, bring back several key players while aiming for a return trip to the postseason. La Cañada will return seniors Ian and Nicholas Lee in doubles, along with Reid Shreck and JP McKenzie in singles. They will be joined by junior Alec Robertson, who will compete in singles and doubles.
The Lees went 18-6 last season and received All-Area accolades after being tabbed the All-Area Doubles Team of the Year in 2016.
“It’s a very good group coming back and many of them have kept up with their games,” La Cañada coach Will Moravec said. “We have a lot of guys who can play singles and doubles, plus we have depth.
“We’ve been able to rotate players around from singles to doubles and vice versa and we plan to do that again this season. We have quite a few guys who are tournament players and it will be one of the biggest teams we’ve had in some time.”
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
