La Cañada tennis’ Chmielewski finishes third in league

TEMPLE CITY — An unfortunate trend continued for La Cañada High boys’ tennis player Lucas Chmielewski Thursday in the second day of the Rio Hondo League Tournament.

For the third straight season, the junior lost in the tourney semifinals, falling one step short of advancing to the singles final and earning a spot in the CIF Southern Section Individual Tournament.

However, Chmielewski was able to continue another positive trend in the competition. For the third consecutive year, Chmielewski battled back to win his final match and place third among a talented group of participants.

The Spartans had a doubles team that also advanced to the second day of the tournament, but brothers Ian and Nick Lee lost in the semifinals and also suffered a loss in the third-place match.

Of the eight semifinal spots, powerhouse San Marino occupied six, with the La Cañada singles and double team the only non-Titans participants.

“That’s how it’s been for years,” said Spartans Coach Will Moravec said. “San Marino always has top-notch, talented players. I think it’s been probably eight years since we had someone from our team qualify for CIF competition.”

The top two singles players and doubles teams earns spots in the CIF Individual Tournament. The third-place finishers serve as alternates.

Chmielewski, seeded fourth, had a tough time in his semifinal contest, falling to No. 1 Ryan Cheng of San Marino, 6-1, 6-2. Cheng, a senior, went on to capture the league championship, besting teammate and No. 2 seed Derek Chen, a senior, 6-1, 6-3.

Chmielewski’s troubles continued in the third-place match, as he fell behind, 4-0, against No. 3 freshman Leo Wang of San Marino. However, the Spartan battled back in the opening set, turned things around and dispatched Wang, 7-5, 6-1.

“When I was down, 0-4, in that first set, I actually threw my racket,” said Chmielewski, an All-Area selection in 2015. “I was just really frustrated at that moment. But after I threw my racket, I started playing better. I think once I got that frustration out I was able to relax after that. Then I was able to be more consistent. After that, it all seemed to click for me and everything was working better for me.

“I’m just happy I was able to beat a San Marino guy.”

The Lee brothers, who are sophomores, came into the tournament as the No. 2 seed. Taking on the third-seeded San Marino duo of John Carter and Tyler Tseng, the Spartans tandem suffered a 6-4, 6-4 loss.

In the third-place contest, the Lee brothers played better early on against No. 4 senior Jacob Lui and Alan Liu, but ended up falling, 7-5, 6-3.

“Especially in that first set, there were just so many opportunities that we had to get the win, but we just couldn’t close it out,” Ian Lee said. “It was a bummer. After losing that, we just tried to work hard and tried to get back into it. “

Said Nick Lee: “We’ve been working so hard as a team to try and improve and play the best that we can. It’s great that we were able to get to the semifinals. We deserve to be in the semifinals because of that hard work and I know we’re going to get better.”

In the doubles final, the No. 1 San Marino team of junior Bryce Pereira and Connor Lee defeated Carter and Tseng, 6-0, 6-1.