Plenty of Depth Helps Defending Champions Light Up the Tennis Courts Without a True Star : Dana Hills Learns to Make the Most of Many Setbacks

When we last checked in with the Dana Hills High School boys’ tennis team, the Dolphins were basking in the glow of their first Southern Section 4-A championship last spring.

Since then, there have been changes aplenty, not all of them good.

The team’s top player last season, Gavin Fenske, graduated and is playing at Saddleback College. That was inevitable, and Art Jenkins, the Dolphins’ coach, was prepared for his departure.

However, Jenkins was not prepared when Ryan Gately, who was expected to be the Dolphins’ top player this season, contracted an unusual illness: swollen lymph nodes in his neck and under his arms.

So Dana Hills lost the defending South Coast League singles champion and one of the main cogs in its drive for a second consecutive 4-A title. Gately, a junior, has played in only one match this season.

Without Gately, who was the league’s singles runner-up as a freshman, Jenkins has juggled the lineup in search of the strongest combination.

For example, Stan Sanders, who, along with Neel Grover, won the Southern Section doubles championship last season, has difficulty naming all his doubles partners this season.

Grover primarily has been playing singles this year because of Gately’s illness.

Then there was a difficult nonleague schedule.

The Dolphins lost to 5-A powers Santa Barbara, which reached the final last season, and Beverly Hills. They lost to Newport Harbor in a match for Orange County supremacy.

In each match, the Dolphins lost, 11-7, which is akin to a 2-1 loss in the bottom of the ninth inning in a baseball game.

“We were disappointed with our nonleague record,” Gately said.

Added Grover: “If we were at full strength and healthy, we could have won those matches.”

Through illness, lineup juggling and frustrating losses, the Dolphins have remained atop the 4-A rankings. Optimism apparently has outweighed adversity, and that has kept Dana Hills (9-3 overall, 3-0 in league play) winning.

“I think we’re going to win it,” Sanders said. “We have a really good chance. After experiencing the glory of winning it last year, we have to do it again.”

Certainly it would not be an upset if the Dolphins reached the final. Dana Hills has championship experience on its side. Last year, the Dolphins beat Servite in the title match to cap an undefeated season. In 1986, Dana Hills advanced to the final but lost to Calabasas.

The Dolphins also are the three-time defending South Coast League champions.

This season, Dana Hills has maintained its winning ways without a true star.

“We have a lot of no-names that can play tennis very well,” Jenkins said. “We played all the top teams, except Beverly Hills, without Ryan. We all realize the No. 6, 7 and 8 guys are important. That’s been the key to our success.

“You’re always wishing you can make yourself better. I wish we had one more good No. 8 guy. We have great depth down the JVs. Having a good JV team is one more part of (our) success.”

Indeed, depth is one reason Dana Hills has overcome its stumbling blocks. Sanders, Grover, Estaban Saba and brothers Chris and Ben Stevens have picked up the slack.

However, Gately has been about as high-strung as his racket while awaiting his return.

“It has been frustrating,” Gately said. “I feel fine. I’ve started practicing again. I’m definitely going to be back (at full strength) for the playoffs. It would be nice to win two years in a row. We can do it if we’re healthy.”

Jenkins believes the difficult schedule and adversity will help his team in the long run.

“Playing the tough teams helped to put it in perspective. It’s going to take an excellent performance to repeat,” Jenkins said. “Our goals (repeating as 4-A champions) are the same as before the season started, though.”