SOUTHERN SECTION TEAM TENNIS PLAYOFFS : University and Trabuco Hills Will Be Hard Pressed to Advance

University Coach Josh Davis and Trabuco Hills Coach Brian Cox were looking for possible scenarios that would allow their teams to pull off upsets in today’s semifinals of the Southern Section Division I boys’ team tennis playoffs.

But neither appeared very hopeful of finding one.

“I haven’t thought of one,” said Davis, whose team will play host to top-seeded Santa Barbara (21-1) at 3:15 p.m. today.

In singles, the Dons have Alex DeCret, the Ojai interscholastic singles champion and probable No. 1-seeded player in the section individual singles tournament, and Jimmy Walker, who also advanced into the singles round of 16.

Santa Barbara’s doubles teams are led by Nathan Jackmon and Jason Merrin, the Ojai interscholastic doubles champs and the likely No. 1-seeded team in the individual tournament, which continues Friday at SeaCliff Tennis Club in Huntington Beach.

Cox, whose team plays host to second-seeded Sunny Hills today in the Division II tournament, was about as confident as Davis.

“I follow their scores,” Cox said Wednesday. “To be honest, they probably are on a different level than us. They are very talented and strong all the way through. Their top three singles players are all ranked (juniors) and there’s no dropoff in doubles.”

David Robbins, Joseph Gilbert and Kevin Kim are the ranked juniors who have helped lead Sunny Hills to a 20-0 record and three blowout victories in the Division II playoffs. In three playoff matches, Sunny Hills has lost only one set in victories over Encino Crespi, La Verne Damien and West Hills Chaminade.

“It’s maybe lights out, I don’t know,” Cox said.

Third-seeded Trabuco Hills (21-2) has reached the semifinals for the first time behind the steady singles play of sophomore Nolan Cooper, junior Bryan Johnson and senior Juro Letko. Cooper and Johnson have reached the round of 16 in the individual doubles tournament.

Trabuco Hills reached the semifinals with a 9-9, 82-79 games victory Wednesday at Palm Desert.

North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake will play host to Redlands in the other Division II semifinal.

Corona del Mar figures to have a better chance than University (19-3), which is seeded fourth, in advancing to next Wednesday’s division team finals, but not much better. The third-seeded Sea Kings (20-1) will play host to Palos Verdes Peninsula (23-0) at Corona del Mar. Peninsula routed University, 16-2, this season.

“Yeah, Peninsula went right through University, but so did we,” Corona del Mar Coach Tim Mang said.

If Corona del Mar is to have a chance, Brian Walden and Trenton Rhodeswill have to win some singles’ sets and hope its doubles teams can continue to play well. But that won’t be easy, considering Peninsula has Loren Peters and Kyle Spencer, two of the top-ranked juniors in Southern California.

“Brian and Trenton are capable of getting a set off anybody,” Mang said. “They’re expecting to.”

Peninsula’s doubles teams are led by Jim Kim and Dean Ho, who also advanced to the individual tournament.