Southern Section Tennis Playoffs : Dana Hills Shows Its Depth, Routs Fountain Valley

The Dana Hills High School boys’ tennis team is entering familiar territory, thanks to a 15-3 win over Fountain Valley Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section 4-A playoffs.

Dana Hills, the defending 4-A champion, advances to the semifinals Thursday against Canyon at a site to be determined today.

Canyon advanced with an 11-7 victory over Thousand Oaks Tuesday.

Dana Hills is one win away from its third straight 4-A final appearance. Last season, the Dolphins beat Servite for the title, and in 1986, they lost to Calabasas.

Dana Hills, the top-seeded 4-A team entering the playoffs, is 19-3. Fountain Valley ended its season 18-4.

The Dolphins can thank superior depth, among other things, for their convincing victory Tuesday.

From the No. 1 singles player to the No. 3 doubles team, Dana Hills doesn’t appear to have any weaknesses in its lineup.

Ben Stevens, playing No. 1 singles, swept his three sets easily. So did Stan Sanders and Kurt Reiner, the No. 3 doubles team.

Stevens got the Dolphins off to a fast start by defeating Mike Mell, Fountain Valley’s No. 1 singles player, 6-0.

He followed that with a 6-2 victory over Erroll Aksoy, Fountain Valley’s No. 2 singles player, and a 6-1 win over No. 3 Alex Lee.

Sanders and Reiner got past the Barons’ No. 1 team of Brian Winterstein and Colby Morita, 6-4, then beat Russ Yee and Ryan Hasegawa, 6-2, and finished with a 6-1 win over Kevin Cleland and Tom Pham.

It didn’t stop there, either. No. 2 singles player Estaban Saba won two of three sets and Chris Stevens, at No. 3 singles, swept his sets. And the Dolphins’ No. 1 doubles team of Tim Potter and Neel Grover swept their three sets.

“We are really deep,” Grover said after he and Potter survived a shaky third set, a 7-6 win over Cleland and Pham. “Our No. 10 singles guy could probably play No. 2 on most teams. Most, but not all.”

Indeed, Art Jenkins, Dana Hills coach, spreads the Dolphins’ talent out to ensure that there are no weak areas.

For example, Grover and Sanders were the Southern Section doubles champions last season but have rarely played together this season in order to field the most competitive team possible.

Nevertheless, Grover said he and Potter didn’t play particularly well, especially in that final set.

“We were lucky,” Grover said. “But we played well enough to win.”

In other 4-A action:

Canyon 11, Thousand Oaks 7--Canyon won 7 of 9 singles sets in defeating host Thousand Oaks. Jason DeFalco swept his sets, 7-6, 6-1, 6-1, as did Ilkyung Choi, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0. In doubles play, Jose Lynch and Brad Mills won, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3, for Canyon (23-0).

Foothill 11, Calabasas 7--Jeff Giesea swept at No. 1 singles, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0, and Dana Eisenman and Jeff Gilstrap swept at No. 1 doubles, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4, for host Foothill (13-8), the No. 2 team from the Century League.

In 3-A matches:

Laguna Beach 13, Burbank 5--Jon Leach lost his first set of the season, but Laguna Beach (17-6) dominated doubles play to win at home. Leach, who entered the match with a 60-0 record, lost to Mark Nielson, 7-5, in the first set. But Leach came back to win, 6-0, 6-0, in his final two sets. Nielson, who is 62-1, swept to 6-1, 6-2 victories in his other two sets. Laguna Beach won seven of nine doubles sets, led by John Young and Lee Kirner, who swept, 6-1, 6-0, 6-2.

San Marino 14, Sunny Hills 4--Andrew Sheppert won, 6-1, 6-1, 6-0, to lead host San Marino (19-0). Glenn Henderson won 2 of 3 singles sets, 1-6, 7-5, 6-1, for Sunny Hills.

In 2-A matches:

Valencia 11, Righetti 7--No. 2-seeded Valencia (21-2) won eight of nine doubles sets at Righetti. Colin Robinson and Eric Flint swept, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0; and Gerrod Van Engen and Charles Lee won, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. Danny Yu won two of three singles sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Woodbridge 13, Alhambra 5--No. 1 singles player Randy Ivey and No. 2 Alex Steinhardt each swept their matches for third-seeded Woodbridge (20-3) at Alhambra. Rajan Saggar and Brett Isaacman, playing No. 3 doubles, swept their three matches.