Kennedy Wins 3-A Tennis Title : Depth Carries Golden Cougars Past Eagle Rock in City Final

Craig Raub was supremely confident that his Kennedy High boys’ tennis team would respond to the challenge of the City Section 3-A Division championships Friday.

“This team is really happy-go-lucky and casual about everything,” Raub said.

And so it was that the Golden Cougars took the 3-A title in stride, using a well-balanced attack to defeat two-time defending champion Eagle Rock, 20-9 1/2, at the Racquet Centre in Universal City.

Kennedy, which dropped from the 4-A to the 3-A Division this season, had never previously reached the final round of the City team finals. This season, however, depth set Kennedy apart. As a prime example, the Golden Cougars’ three doubles teams combined to win 43 of 45 sets during the playoffs.

“For us to have a chance, we were going to have to semi-neutralize their doubles,” said Eagle Rock coach Hal Stepeau, whose team had won five of the last seven 3-A titles. “We just couldn’t find any holes or creases to probe.”

After his team beat Poly in the semifinals Tuesday, Raub lightened his rigorous practice regimen, cutting workouts short.

“I figured that if we don’t have it down by 18 weeks, we don’t have it down period,” Raub said.

Kennedy had beaten Eagle Rock (25-2) earlier in the season, but Raub took nothing for granted.

“We were dead even,” he said, touching his index finger and thumb to approximate the parity of the teams. “It was by the skin of our butts.”

Kennedy’s Bobby Butler, Tony Yean and David Schwartz each lost a singles match and Josh Etting lost twice. In doubles, Eun Sung Song and Che Naveja, the Cougars’ No. 3 team that did not lose a set in the regular season, swept their matches, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3. Henry Wang and Jimmy Min also swept three matches, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. Ted LeGrand and Tin Hoang won two sets, 6-2, 6-3, and lost, 7-5.

Taft, which stunned University in the quarterfinals, lost to Palisades, 23 1/2-6, in the 4-A Division championship that also was held Friday at the Racquet Centre.

“I’m proud of how hard they worked to get here,” Taft Coach Marvin Jones said of the Toreadors (13-4), who last won a 4-A Division title in 1984. “In a round robin, it’s depth that counts . . . and Palisades is deep.”

Palisades Coach Bob Kling agreed.

“Sometimes we’ve had three or four nationally-ranked kids and they come out here and decimate people,” said Kling, who has won 10 team championships. “This year, we just have a bunch of hard-working kids.”

Taft failed to win a singles set. Scott Pitters came the closest when he lost, 7-6 (8-6 in the tiebreaker), to Drake Jantze, Palisades’ top player.

Jeff Hartman and Jeff Harlan of Taft defeated Greg Rosenbloom and Damon Curran, 6-2, and beat Jeremy Grunstein and Arseen Solomon, 6-2. Beau Heggen and Derek Halpern won Taft’s only other set, beating Rosenbloom and Curran, 7-5.