Southern Section Boys’ Tennis : Foothill Tandem Upsets No. 2 Miraleste in Final

Almost every tennis player has played someone like Foothill High School’s Barry Hancock.

He’s emotional and he lets you know it by screaming at rackets, opponents and crowds, not to mention himself.

Tennis is Hancock’s battle, not his game, and he’s armed for the sport.

Instead of volleys and serves, his racket spits bullets that attack fences and parking lots when fired incorrectly.

He didn’t miss too many during this weekend’s Southern Section Individual tennis championships at the Newport Beach Tennis Club, where Hancock and Jeff Giesa upset No. 2-seeded Peter Fitzpatrick and Bobby Langley of Miraleste, 7-5, 6-2, for the doubles title.

In the singles championship final, top-seeded Jeff Tarango of Mira Costa defeated No. 4 Steve Wiere of Calabasas, 6-3, 6-3. In the semifinals, Tarango beat Steve Oliver of Calabasas, 6-4, 7-6, and Wiere upset No. 2 Mike Briggs of Corona del Mar, 7-6, 6-3.

The unseeded Foothill duo disrupted the entire tournament. After defeating top-seeded Brad Hess and Kevin Schmidtchen of Santa Barbara, 6-3, 6-3, in Friday’s quarterfinals, Hancock and Giesa beat Steve Arnott and David Moore of Edison, 6-2, 6-2, in Saturday’s semifinals. Langley and Fitzpatrick defeated Brent and Danny Medvene of Santa Barbara, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

Said Hancock: “All I can say is that we didn’t lose a set in the tournament, and we beat the No. 1 seeds pretty handly. No one else came close.”

“He’s settled down some,” said Jill Beck, Foothill’s coach, of Hancock. “He can overhit and get a little carried away out there, but he’s matured and become more steady.”

But hardly more inhibited.

Leading, 5-0, in the second set of the semifinals, Hancock approached the crowd. “It’s getting really noisy up there,” he said. “Can you please pass it along?”

As if he were losing.

The crowd quieted, but Foothill lost the next two games.

Leading in the second set, 2-0, Hancock made some noise of his own.

“I got it,” Hancock screamed as he dashed around Giesa to rescue a high baseline lob by thrusting his racket behind his back. Langley ended the exchange with an overhead that forced Hancock’s next shot out.

With Hancock constantly in the limelight, Giesa’s contributions appear to slip into the background.

Not to semifinalist Moore. Giesa smashed a backhand volley between Moore’s legs to take the match. As if to say he could spit bullets, too.

Beck already knew this about Giesa.

“Jeff’s more quiet, and yet he has a really good, fighting attitude,” she said. “He can get intense and play intense matches. He’s always been the type of player to hit serves after practice.”

He does more than that. Giesa is an accomplished pianist and practices up to three hours daily.

How does he like playing with his inharmonious partner?

“He’s my only doubles partner, so he’s my favorite,” said Giesa, a sophomore with just two years of competitive doubles experience.

Said Hancock, a senior: “I wouldn’t say he’s my favorite doubles player, but if I had my choice, he’d be in the top five. . . . He’s easy to get along with on the court.”

Not an easy task on Hancock’s side of the court.