Sunny Hills Gains Final With Singular Victory

According to Sunny Hills boys’ tennis Coach Steve White, blue collar workers they’re not, but his second-seeded Lancers had little trouble rolling over third-seeded Trabuco Hills, 13-5, in a Southern Section Division II semifinal Thursday at Trabuco Hills.

Sunny Hills (21-0) will play top-seeded North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, which defeated Redlands, 13-5, Wednesday for the title.

The Lancers, who dropped only one set on their way to the semifinal round, lost to Laguna Beach in the quarterfinals last season and defeated San Marino for the title in 1991.

“They (the 1991 team) didn’t know how good they were, so they had to work really hard,” White said. “We’re much more talented this year and we should be ready to play with the attitude that we can win it and we should win it.”

David Robbins (62-0) led the Lancers, who lost only two games in nine sets of singles, with a 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 sweep in the top position. Freshmen Joseph Gilbert and Kevin Kim, at Nos. 2 and 3, provided the depth to finish the sweep.

With great respect for Sunny Hills singles players, Trabuco Hills Coach Brian Cox stacked his doubles lineup, penciling in his usual No. 1 singles player, sophomore Nolan Cooper, at No. 3 doubles with Romit Shah. Cooper helped the Mustangs advance to the semifinals by rallying from a 5-2 deficit to a 7-6 victory to clinch the 9-9 victory in games, 82-79, over Palm Desert. Cooper-Shah took two of three sets from the Lancers.