Boys’ tennis: Kehrer holds the key to Brentwood’s title hopes

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Despite the graduation of five starters, Brentwood Coach Lee Herzog thinks his team might be even better than it was a year ago, when it lost to Crossroads in the Division III final. The Eagles have an influx of young talent in doubles to add to a potent singles lineup of Walker Kehrer, Casey Grindon and Jackson Isaacs.

Kehrer (pictured), a junior, is ranked 13th in Southern California in the 18s. He compiled a 57-1 singles record last season and turned heads on Monday when he took Harvard-Westlake’s Ryan Thacher (ranked No. 1 in the country in the 18s) to a tiebreaker.

‘Walker is real determined this year and that [match] was an indication of how well he’s playing,’ Eagles’ assistant coach Spencer Wall said. ‘We won [CIF] his freshman year when he played doubles, but we came up short last year and that bothered him. I think he’s got a great shot to win Ojai.’

Kehrer paired with Kyle McMorrow of Thousand Oaks to win the Easter Bowl 16s doubles crown last April in Rancho Mirage. His only loss last spring was a three-setter at the Ojai tournament to Pacifica Christian’s Alex Brigham in the CIF division quarterfinals.

Grindon, a junior and team captain, is solid at No. 2 and Isaacs, a sophomore, is moving up to singles after partnering with Evan Paley at No. 1 doubles last season, when the duo rocketed through Olympic League play without losing a game.

Leading the ‘new wave’ of talent are sophomores Chris Lord and Andrew Colbert. ‘Chris was in Spain for five years and is only beginning to scratch the surface of his potential,’ Wall said. ‘Andrew is 6-foot-6 and has a monster serve, so we’ve nicknamed him ‘Big Baby’ [after former LSU basketball star Glen Davis].’

Brentwood is one of the most competitive teams in the state, having reached 10 consecutive section finals. And no team will be better prepared come the postseason than the Eagles, who play nonleague matches against Harvard-Westlake, Beverly Hills, Peninsula, Palos Verdes, Mira Costa, Palisades, Santa Monica, Loyola, Jesuit, Notre Dame and San Marino. Whew!

-- Steve Galluzzo

-- Photo by Kaye Kittrell