SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION II TENNIS : Sunny Hills Advances to Semifinals

Second-seeded Sunny Hills again proved its dominance in Division II boys’ tennis by downing West Hills Chaminade, 17-1, in a Southern Section quarterfinal match Tuesday at Sunny Hills Racquet Club.

Sunny Hills (20-0) will play at Trabuco Hills Thursday in a semifinal match.

During a Sunny Hills meeting after Tuesday’s victory, Coach Steve White congratulated his squad on staying focused, specifically noting the effort of the doubles teams.

“In our match with (La Verne) Damien (in the round of 16), we were staying up and not overconfident,” White said. “We’re looking for that magic No. 10. If we want that number, we have to keep our intensity.”

Chaminade Coach Rick Hayashida recognized that intensity even before Sunny Hills reached its magic number.

Convinced his Eagles (12-6) had their hands full after they were swept in the first round of play, Hayashida defaulted the third-round sets just as both teams stepped on the court for Round 2.

In the top doubles position, senior Jason Nevadomsky and junior Juno Kuan set the pace for the Lancers with a 6-2 victory over Chaminade’s No. 1 team of Trevor Testwuide and G.O. Burton. Nevadomsky-Kuan later defeated No. 3 Paul Gross and Manish Tandon, 6-2.

Sunny Hills’ No. 2 team of Hiron Bhavsar and Joey Springer posted 6-0, 6-1 victories against Chaminade’s Nos. 1 and 2, and the No. 3 team of Danny Lee and Jeff Hartl went 6-4 and 6-4 with Nos. 2 and 3.

In the singles competition, No. 1 David Robbins (59-0), ranked No. 21 in the boys’ 18s, led Sunny Hills with 7-5 and 6-0 victories over No. 1 Jeremy Testwuide and No. 3 Andrew Ratiu. Robbins, trailing 5-2, won five consecutive games to win the set.

“I started real slow and he was serving unbelievably,” Robbins said. “I knew he couldn’t keep it up. He started missing first serves and I took advantage.”

Playing No. 3 singles for the Lancers, freshman Kevin Kim recorded 6-0, 6-0 victories over No. 2 Justin Carreon. No. 3 Joseph Gilbert (50-3) defeated Carreon, 6-0, but fell to Testwuide, 3-6.

“We knew we’d have a difficult time with them,” Hayashida said. “They’ll give Harvard-Westlake a tough match (in the finals).”

Chaminade fell to Harvard-Westlake 14-4 and 13-5 this season.

In other Division II matches:

Trabuco Hills 9, Palm Desert 9 (Trabuco Hills wins on games, 82-79)--With Trabuco Hills trailing, 9-8, Nolan Cooper rallied from a 2-5 deficit to defeat Dan Battistone, 7-6, to send the Mustangs (21-2) to the semifinals and hand Palm Desert its first loss this season after 19 consecutive victories.

Cooper, who swept, 7-6, 6-1, 6-0, won the decisive tiebreaker over Battistone, 7-2.

Redlands 9, Esperanza 9 (Redlands wins on games, 81-75)--Host Redlands advanced to the semifinals to play North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, a 14-4 winner over Upland, and Esperanza ends its season at 18-6.