Boys’ tennis: Playing “up” is toughening up San Marino

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San Marino Coach John Kuramoto is a ‘big picture’ kind of guy. He couldn’t care less about his team’s mediocre 8-5 record because, to him, who you play is more important than the final score.

‘We could be undefeated right now if that’s what we wanted, but for us it’s all about the postseason,’ he said. ‘There’s only one way to hone your skills and that’s to play against better teams. That’s the way we do it and so far it’s worked.’

Playing ‘up’ paid dividends last year, when San Marino won the Southern Section Division II crown. The Titans are favored to win it again this spring and if their nonleague schedule doesn’t prepare them for the playoffs, nothing will.

All of San Marino’s losses are to teams ranked in the top 10 in Division I -- Mater Dei, Santa Barbara, Harvard-Westlake, Peninsula and Troy -- and two of those were decided on games. The Titans have victories over two other Division I teams -- Loyola and Los Alamitos -- as well as Division III powerhouse Brentwood.

San Marino’s most intriguing nonleague test, however, will be April 22 at Diamond Bar, which fell to the Titans in the finals 10 months ago. ‘We’re the top two teams in our division, so that’ll be a good indicator of what’ll happen in the playoffs,’ Kuramoto said. ‘We’re really looking forward to that match.’

-- Steve Galluzzo

-- Image from http://www.sanmarinohs.org