TENNIS ROUNDUP : El Toro Gets Victory as San Clemente’s Skid Continues

What began as a promising week for San Clemente’s fifth-ranked tennis team has turned disastrous. The Tritons entered the week at 8-1 and tied for first place in the South Coast League at 2-0. But Thursday’s 13 1/3-7 2/3 loss to El Toro was San Clemente’s second in a row, and the forecast for next week isn’t much brighter.

The Tritons (8-3, 2-2) will play second-ranked Dana Hills and fourth-ranked Corona del Mar, and will be without Jeff Shoemaker, their second-best doubles player.

Shoemaker gutted it out Tuesday in a loss to Capistrano Valley and Thursday played at about 50% efficiency. Shoemaker and his partner, Jason Gavilan, lost 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, Thursday.

“He was using a springboard to do some stuff shots and, after hanging on the rim, he fell flat on his back and bruised his pelvis,” San Clemente Coach Bob Gustafson said. “It was pretty great that he even came out here today. I told him before the match that if he didn’t play, we didn’t have a chance.”

The Tritons might have had a better chance with a healthy Shoemaker, but they might have lost to a rapidly improving El Toro team anyway. El Toro (9-3, 3-1) took eight of nine singles sets and won four of nine doubles sets.

The Chargers’ most impressive and significant doubles victory came early, when junior Andy Chen and freshman Travis Blank handed Daniel Roditi and Eli Engle their first loss of the season, 7-5. Roditi and Engle had won their first 18 sets together.

“There was a lot of pressure on our kids because we knew how good they were,” El Toro Coach Bob Bachelor said. Roditi and Shoemaker figure to be one of the top-seeded teams at the Ojai tournament next Thursday, providing Shoemaker’s pelvis heals in time.

In another South Coast League match:

Mission Viejo 13, Mater Dei 8--Mission Viejo (4-7, 2-2) used its doubles play to get the victory. Christian Fernandez and Fernando Machuca won, 6-3, 6-0, 6-1. Cuong Tran and Josh Fair won, 6-0, 6-1, 6-1, and Dave Beydler and Tofer Patton won, 6-0, 7-5, 6-1. Mater Dei is 4-6, 0-4.

In the Century League:

Foothill 13, Canyon 8--Jack Huang swept his singles matches, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, to lead No. 6-ranked Foothill over No. 8-ranked Canyon. Huang has lost only two sets all season. The No. 3 doubles team of Thomas Lin and Lance Stern came from behind in two sets to win two of three, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, for Foothill (14-1, 5-1).

Villa Park 14 1/3, Santa Ana Valley 6 2/3--Ryan Hollis won, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, Chad Smith won, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1, and Brandon Louie won, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, to lead Villa Park (10-2, 3-1).

In the Garden Grove League:

Garden Grove 21, Los Amigos 0--In singles, Binh Nguyen swept his sets, losing no games, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, for Garden Grove (11-2, 5-0). In doubles, Nima Vazin and Jimmy Nguyen also won all their games, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. The Argonauts are ranked 10th in the Division II Southern Section poll.

In the Pacific Coast League:

Estancia 21, Century 0--Rob Horansky led an Estancia sweep by winning his singles sets, 6-0, 6-0, 6-3.

In the Sunset League:

Ocean View 13 1/3, Fountain Valley 7 2/3--Jakub Pietrowski swept No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, and Paul Choi swept No. 2 singles, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1, to lead host Ocean View (10-3, 8-2).