HIGH SCHOOL BOYS’ TENNIS : Torrey Pines, La Jolla Romp to Team Titles

Unable to find much excitement or competition on the court, Torrey Pines took to the swimming pool Friday after a 15-3 rout of Patrick Henry at Rancho Arbolitos in the San Diego Section boys’ 3-A team tennis finals.

Sophomore Taryn Burgk wanted to throw the freshmen in, instead Burgk wound up being the first one in.

“They double-crossed me,” said a dripping-wet Burgk.

But Burgk didn’t seem to mind. After all, he was celebrating his second consecutive section title.

La Jolla, which beat San Pasqual, 15-3 to win the 2-A title, skipped the pool scene and headed straight for the award ceremony. Once there, the Vikings posed for pictures with their good friend Kendall Webb, the CIF commissioner, who presented La Jolla (19-0) with its sixth consecutive section 2-A title.

Was La Jolla senior Simon Kurth surprised to see Webb?

“To be honest, no,” Kurth said.

How did Kurth find a way to motivate himself this season?

“It’s just fun to beat people,” said Kurth, who won his singles matches 6-4, 6-0 and 6-0.

Neither match was ever close as Torrey Pines and La Jolla had the title clinched after two rounds.

Top-seeded Torrey Pines (20-2) won all nine singles. Mikko Salminvuo, the Falcons’ No. 1 player, lost only two games in winning his three sets. Freshman Justin Phillips, at No. 3 singles, lost only five games.

“They’re just too well-rounded,” Henry Coach Ted Tibbs said. “They have depth in singles and doubles. If you look at their lineup, they can go so many ways.

“Coming in, we thought we could compete with them. If we would have played a little better, it would have been closer, but I still don’t think we could have won.”

Phillips said he is already looking ahead to next year.

“We have to drop to 2-A, but we figure it will be just as easy,” he said.

But Phillips might want to check with La Jolla before making brash statements like that. Even though the Vikings lose their three best players, Jon Elsberry, James Conda and Simon Kurth, they always seem to find a way. La Jolla has won 20 section championships in the past 23 years.

San Pasqual Coach Ron Peet tried to juggle his lineup in an attempt to throw La Jolla off its game, but the move didn’t help much. He switched his No. 2 and No. 3 singles players, Jeff Young Chris Minor, to doubles and his No. 3 doubles team of Mike Kaull and Gabe Gomez to second and third singles.

“This was the all-or-nothing lineup,” Peet said.

It wasn’t nothing, but it was close. Second-seeded San Pasqual (21-4) won only one of nine singles matches--No. 1 Tim Burke beat No. 2 Conda, 6-2. The Eagles won only two of nine doubles matches--No. 1 Geoff Putnam and Young and No. 3 Chris Connelly and Peter McKinley each won a set.

Elsberry set the tone early by beating Burke, 6-2, in a No. 1 singles matchup. From there, Elsberry beat Kaull and Gomez, 6-0, 6-0.

“I really felt comfortable today,” Elsberry said. “I felt I could make anything.”

The only thing left for Elsberry is a section individual title--the tournament begins Monday--that has eluded him for three years. As a sophomore, he and Conda lost in the doubles finals. Last year, he lost in the semifinals.

This year, he is the tournament’s top seed. Conda is second.

“My main concern is getting to the finals,” Elsberry said. “If I play James in the finals, I know it will be a good match.”

Probably a better one than either of Friday’s.