Boys’ tennis: Are these Roadrunners at a crossroads?

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How quickly things have changed over at Crossroads.

The Roadrunners won the Southern Section Division III title last spring knowing that Coach Chris Harradine was not returning. Harradine’s replacement, Paul Gibbs, inherits a team that is loaded at the top but may lack the depth needed to repeat.

Sure enough, doubles proved to be the achilles heel Wednesday against Santa Barbara, as Crossroads duos won only two of nine sets in a 10-8 loss at Riviera Tennis Club. Still, Gibbs was encouraged by his team’s fight against the Dons, Division I semifinalists last year.

‘The singles matches today were some of the best I’ve ever seen in high school,’ said Gibbs, new to Southern California after spending eight years in Cleveland, where he coached University School to two state championships. ‘Santa Barbara’s No. 1 guy [Daniel Nguyen] and our top two guys [Clay Thompson and Alex Sohaili] are better than anyone I had in Ohio and our No. 3 [Reese Milner] is on the same level as anyone I had there.’

Crossroads won its season opener Tuesday against Viewpoint, the reigning Division IV champion. The schedule doesn’t lighten up, either, with nonleague matches on the horizon against Harvard-Westlake, Mira Costa and Dana Hills. Also circled on the calendar are two showdowns with Olympic League rival Brentwood, still stinging from its 10-8 loss to the Roadrunners in the section finals.

Thompson, one of the best players in the nation in his age group, reached the semifinals of the Southern Section Individual singles tournament as a freshman last year. He, Sohaili and Milner, a senior who spent several years at a tennis academy in Florida before joining Crossroads last season, each won two out of three sets against Santa Barbara.

‘We’ve spilt against two really strong teams and I like what I’ve seen so far,’ said Gibbs, a former player at Ball State University in Indiana. ‘No one said defending our title would be easy.’

Amen to that, coach.

-- Steve Galluzzo

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