All-American Tennis : Cal’s DeVries, SMU’s Reneberg to Play in Final

Steve DeVries didn’t even hesitate.

“No, I’ve never played him,” DeVries said. “We may have played doubles against each other in juniors, but never in singles.”

Richey Reneberg didn’t even hesitate.

“Sure, we’ve played before,” Reneberg said. “At least two times, maybe more. We played in 18s at Burlingame, I think. It was close, six and five. And we played two close sets in St. Louis.”

Because Reneberg won both matches, it’s not surprising DeVries suffered a memory lapse.

One thing is certain: California’s DeVries and SMU’s Reneberg will play today in the final of the Volvo All-American tennis championships at the L.A. Tennis Center.

Reneberg, seeded No. 1, defeated Philip Johnson of Georgia, 6-1, 6-2, in Saturday’s semifinals. In the earlier match, DeVries prevented an all-SMU final by beating Reneberg’s roommate, Stefan Kruger, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6.

DeVries won the tiebreaker, 7-1. The defending champion, seeded No. 8 in this tournament, has played three tiebreakers in his last three matches, winning all three.

“I might be coming through in the close ones, but when you miss your shots, that’s how you get in those situations,” DeVries said. “It’s just the way things have worked out.”

Said Kruger: “He was serving pretty good today. I was surprised when he aced me a couple of times. I didn’t think he was going to do that.”

Although Kruger and Reneberg are teammates, they have rarely played matches against each other.

“It would have been hard to play him in the final because we are roommates,” said Kruger, who was seeded No. 4. “But it would have been nice.”

Reneberg, a junior, reached the 1986 National Collegiate Athletic Assn. singles final last spring, losing 6-2, 6-1 to Dan Goldie of Stanford. He admits there was a temptation not to return to school.

“It did cross my mind to turn pro,” Reneberg said. “But last summer I got wild-cards into pro tournaments in Boston and Washington, and I didn’t do so well. Then I though I would take the fall off, like Rick Leach is doing, and play some satellite tournaments.

“But I’m glad I came back. My serve is 100% better than it was at the NCAA’s last year.”

Kruger wasn’t convinced before Reneberg’s match with Johnson.

“I’m not sure, I think he’s not playing as well as before,” Kruger said. “Earlier in the week, he was complaining that he wasn’t playing so well. But tennis players always do that.”

But Reneberg had struggled in the second set of his first-round match against Jonas Ehrlin of Weber State, finally winning it in a tiebreaker, 10-8. Kenny Thorne of Georgia Tech took the second set from him in the second round.

Finally things came together when Reneberg was playing Ville Jansson of Northeast Louisiana in the quarterfinals. At 5-5 in the first set, he hit two good returns off Jansson’s serve to win the game.

After that it was surprisingly easy. Reneberg didn’t lose another game to Jansson and dropped just three to Johnson.

“Last year, I didn’t win the points with my serve,” Reneberg said. “Now if you are down 2-3 in a game, you can win the game with a couple of big serves.”

Tournament Notes

It wasn’t as though Southern California tennis players were noticeable at the All-American Championships--actually, they were more noted for their absence. For the first time since 1982, there weren’t any players from Southern California colleges in the singles semifinals. That is somewhat of a surprise for an area which prides itself on the quality of its collegiate game. It has only happened once in the eight-year history of the tournament. In 1982, Peter Doohan of Arkansas beat Paul Annacone of Tennessee. In doubles semifinal play, Tennessee’s Byron Talbot and Shelby Cannon defeated Southwest Louisiana’s Ashley Rhoney and Brett Garnett, 7-5, 6-3. In the other semifinal, Kentucky’s Greg Van Embergh and Rick Benson beat Ball State’s Todd Hershey and Eric Nixon, 6-3, 6-4.