SOUTHERN SECTION TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS : Burbank Entertaining Righetti, Title Hopes

Burbank High might not be playing on its familiar campus courts but it still should be advantage-Bulldogs in today’s Southern Section Division III boys’ tennis final.

Foothill League champion Burbank, 60-2 in home matches the past seven years, might be the toughest host in the section.

Although the Bulldogs (21-3) will not have the true home-court advantage when they face Northern League champion Righetti (22-1), Coach Clyde Richards is relieved tournament officials picked nearby McCambridge Park as a neutral site for the final.

“We’ve certainly seen a lot of California the last couple weeks,” he said. “We’ve already been to San Luis Obispo and Quartz Hill.

“I asked the kids, ‘Are you ready for another bus ride?’ They all groaned.”

This bus ride will take minutes instead of hours. Righetti, which will travel south from Santa Maria, can be thankful its final is not at Burbank High, which has three tennis courts at one end of campus and three at the other.

Richard, a former Burbank player (class of 1956), can’t explain the school’s rationale for splitting the six courts--which forces teams to split up and play at separate locales.

He does know the awkward arrangement somehow deflates opponents, who no doubt also are distracted when they see Richards pedaling back and forth between sites on an old, pink girls’ bicycle.

“I used to have a 10-speed, but one day I let a boy who I thought was a student take it to the other courts,” Richards said. “I never saw the boy or the bike again.”

But Richards has seen a steady rise in the program during his eight years as coach. This is the Bulldogs’ sixth consecutive playoff appearance and their first section final under Richards.

Both Burbank and Righetti survived scares in Thursday’s semifinals--both won on tiebreakers after splitting 18 team points. Righetti ousted top-seeded Calabasas, 9-9, (84-75 in games). The Bulldogs defeated second-seeded Quartz Hill, 9-9 (79-72).

Each team will be counting on a strong No. 1 singles player to set the tone. Burbank’s Doug Young will start the match by putting a two-year playoff record of 12-0 on the line against Righetti’s Shaun Hyatt.

DIVISION II

Harvard-Westlake vs. Sunny Hills at Sunny Hills Racquet Club, 3 p.m.--Most important for top-seeded Harvard-Westlake, appearing in its third consecutive final, is that Philip Tseng will play.

Tseng, a junior, helped the Wolverines defeat Righetti for the title as a freshman. When he missed the 1992 final because of a European tour, Harvard-Westlake lost to Quartz Hill.

“I felt bad about not being there to help my team, but I think it was in my best interests to go,” said Tseng, 17, who was invited to play for a USTA Junior team in Italy and France. “And here we are again.”

Harvard-Westlake (17-2) prepared for today’s showdown with Freeway League champion Sunny Hills (20-0) by playing a tough nonleague schedule. Its only losses have been to Division I finalists Santa Barbara and Peninsula.

“We’ve been unbeatable in our division,” Tseng said, “but this will be the first time we play Sunny Hills.

“My teammates have been counting on me for a long time. But even if I lose, we could still win the championship.”

Tseng, ranked in the top five in 18-and-under singles by the Southern California Tennis Assn., will be joined by two other strong singles players: Aaron Cohen and J.W. Hobson.

DIVISION IV

Nordhoff vs. Santa Maria St. Joseph at Ojai Valley Inn, 1 p.m.--Frontier League champion Nordhoff will take a 20-3 mark into the match against the champion of the Los Padres League.

Nordhoff posted a 12-6 victory over St. Joseph (18-4) earlier, and if Coach Roy Rodriguez has any concern it is at doubles, where he has shuffled the lineup of late.

“I’ve been trying to find a combination that will work for me,” Rodriguez said, “and I think I found it in the last two or three playoff matches.”

The No. 1 team of Justin Zimmerman and Carey Bjorkman is solid. Arnie Nottbohm has been elevated to No. 2 doubles, joining Niels O’Brien, and Jarrod Schockow and Mario Palza will play No. 3 doubles.