Boys’ tennis: Brentwood back where it belongs, in section final
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How long has it been since Brentwood failed to make the finals? I’ll give you a hint: It hasn’t happened in the 21st Century.
The Eagles advanced to their 11th consecutive Southern Section boys’ tennis final Tuesday afternoon with a 12-6 victory over visiting Santa Monica in a Division III semifinal that was a rematch of the teams’ meeting early in the regular season, which Brentwood won, 10-8.
Top-seeded Brentwood improved to 17-6 and is hitting on all cylinders heading into next Wednesday’s championship match against either second-seeded Beverly Hills or defending champion Crossroads, the No. 3 seed.
‘We’ve improved a lot since the beginning of the year and that’s something I think any coach likes to see,’ Brentwood Coach Lee Herzog said. ‘We played all 14 of our guys in singles and doubles to see where they fit best and who can do the job.’
The Eagles have done the job and then some, winning the Olympic League title and breezing through the playoffs unchallenged, though the fifth-seeded Vikings did provide Brentwood with its stiffest test yet.
Herzog hopes that Tuesday’s match, along with regular-season losses to league rival Crossroads (Brentwood lost by three games but avenged that defeat with a 15-3 victory), Division I powers Harvard-Westlake and Peninsula, defending Division II champion San Marino, Jesuit of Northern California and City Section finalist Palisades have prepared the Eagles for whichever team they meet next week at The Claremont Club.
Asked who he would rather face in the finals, Herzog took a diplomatic approach: ‘Both teams are obviously going to present problems for us. Crossroads has three great singles players but I think Beverly Hills is the deeper team. I guess if I had to choose, I’d go with Crossroads because they’re our league rivals and they beat us [in the finals] last year.’
-- Steve Galluzzo