Southern Section Tennis Playoffs : Canyon and Leach to Test Their Winning Streaks

The streaks continue into the quarterfinal round of the Southern Section boys’ team tennis playoffs.

Canyon High School has 22 straight victories this season without a loss.

Jonathan Leach, Laguna Beach’s freshman singles player, has won 60 straight sets without losing this season.

Canyon will try to extend its streak at Thousand Oaks in the quarterfinal round of the 4-A playoffs today.

Leach tries for three more victories when Laguna Beach plays host to Burbank in a 3-A quarterfinal match.

All matches today are at 3:15.

Canyon edged Diamond Bar in last Friday’s second round to advance. The Comanches tied Diamond Bar, 9-9, but won more games, 86-75, to win the match.

Ilkyung Choi, the Comanches’ No. 2-singles player, swept his sets.

Leach, whose father, Dick, is the USC coach and brother, Rick, is on the professional tour, had an easier time last week. He swept his sets, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2.

His victories helped the Artists (16-6) beat Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, 12-6, in Thursday’s second round.

In addition to his 60-set streak in high school competition, Leach won the 16-and-under singles title in the prestigious Ojai tournament last month.

Last year, Leach was the third-ranked singles player in the nation in the 14-and-under age group.

In the 4-A quarterfinals:

Top-seeded Dana Hills plays host to Fountain Valley. Each team is 18-3. Dana Hills, the defending 4-A champion, had little trouble advancing in Friday’s second-round 16-2 victory over Redlands. Fountain Valley, which beat Long Beach Wilson, 12-6, Friday, is led by the No. 1 doubles team of Brian Winterstein and Colby Morita.

In other 4-A matches, Calabasas is at Foothill and El Toro is at Westlake.

In the 3-A quarterfinals:

Los Alamitos, the second-seeded team, plays at Fullerton. Los Alamitos, which defeated La Canada, 16-2, Friday, is led by singles players Riva DaSilva and Shubert Koong. Fullerton tied Indio, 9-9, Friday but advanced on number of games won, 86-73.

In other 3-A matches, San Marino is at Sunny Hills and Woodbridge at Alhambra.

In the 2-A quarterfinals:

Second-seeded Valencia travels to Santa Maria to play Righetti. Last season, Righetti defeated Valencia, 12-6, to win the 2-A championship. Danny Yu was Valencia’s No. 1 singles player last season as a freshman and is the Tigers’ top player again this season.

The 5-A playoffs resume Thursday with Corona del Mar playing at Beverly Hills and Newport Harbor at Santa Barbara in semifinal matches.