San Diego Section Tennis : Ramona’s Failla Seeded No. 1

Ramona High School senior Greg Failla, who finished the season with 67 victories in 68 sets, is seeded first in singles in the San Diego Section individual tennis championships, that start today in two locations.

Singles and doubles will begin play today and Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. at Bishop’s and La Jolla high schools. The semifinals will be Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Bishop’s, with the finals in the same location Friday at 1:30.

Failla led Ramona to the Avocado League championship and a berth in the San Diego Section team tournament semifinals, where the Bulldogs lost, 17-11, to eventual champion Torrey Pines. Failla had won 64 straight sets before losing to Craig Ellison of Torrey Pines.

Favorites in doubles are Rich Blackstone and Paul Richards of Vista, runners-up in last year’s tournament.

Ellison is seeded fourth in singles with Bonita Vista’s Paul Carbone second and San Dieguito’s Carl Chang third. Ellison beat Chang for the Palomar League singles title, but seeding for the San Diego Section tournament had already taken place.

Rounding out the singles seedings are Woody Yocum of Monte Vista (fifth), Dale Monney of Patrick Henry (sixth), Jimmy Takada of Francis Parker (seventh) and Craig Whitteker of El Cajon (eighth).

Blackstone and Richards finished second in doubles last year to La Jolla’s Mike Mitchell and Chris Colwell. Colwell has graduated, but Mitchell is back with a new teammate, Jason Halquist. They are seeded second, followed by Lloyd Smyth and David Mercado of Mount Carmel.