SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION II TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS : Sunny Hills Tops Palm Desert

The Palm Desert boys’ tennis team accomplished more against Sunny Hills than most teams have. They scored seven points and they rattled the nerves of a normally stoic Kevin Kim.

But Palm Desert didn’t stop Sunny Hills from repeating as Southern Section Division II champions as it lost to the top-seeded Lancers, 14-7, Tuesday at Shadow Mountain Resort & Racquet Club.

Afterward, Sunny Hills Coach Steve White thanked Palm Desert for finally giving his team some competition. The Lancers’ only loss in 23 matches came to Division I semifinalist Palos Verdes Peninsula.

“Palm Desert was really fun to play,” White said just before being doused with a full cooler. “They don’t give up. They’re bulldogs.”

Kim, the nation’s No. 1-ranked player in the boys’ 16 division, might not agree with White’s characterization of third-seeded Palm Desert, which finished 20-5-1. Starting in the first set, Kim became involved in a trash-talking duel with several Palm Desert players.

Kim, who was playing No. 3 doubles with Hiren Bhavsar, fired the first shot by nailing Palm Desert’s Butch Price in the head on a wicked return shot. Kim’s aggressive play continued in the second set against Palm Desert’s Brian Battistone and Tyler Zundel.

Eventually, Zundel and Battistone took offense to Kim’s target practice and began talking and hitting back. Kim’s head was the recipient of a rocket return from Battistone. The well-placed volley seemed to inspire Zundel and Battistone and unnerve Kim, who had his serve and his concentration broken.

“He’s the No. 1 player in the nation and we got under his skin,” Zundel said.

Kim, who won his three sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1, didn’t agree.

“The second match was real fun,” Kim said with a big grin. “They weren’t getting to me. I didn’t try to hit him. I said, ‘I’m sorry.’ But they started the trash and I can trash talk, too.”

But Joseph Gilbert, Kim’s close friend who was playing doubles on the adjacent court, acknowledged that Zundel and Battistone might have won the war of words even if they did lose the set, 6-4.

“That’s how they got 6-4 off of Kevin, trash talking to him,” Gilbert said. “Instead of trying to win, he was just trying to get back at them. But Coach White told us to get back at them with tennis.”

The Lancers did just that as they took a 9 1/3-4 2/3 lead into the third round before Gilbert and his partner, Joey Springer, clinched it with a 6-0 victory over Battistone and Zundel. Gilbert and Springer won their other two sets, 6-1, 6-4, and finished five rounds of the playoffs undefeated in 15 sets.

“I forgot about everything else, but 10 2/3 (the amount of points needed to win),” Springer said. “That’s all that really matters.”

It also mattered that John Han, Juno Kuan and Shaun Harris gave Sunny Hills six points by each winning two of their three singles sets.

What mattered most to White was that his team has won consecutive section titles, even if those titles haven’t come against the likes of Santa Barbara and Dana Hills at the Division I level.

“Being a coach in two sports (basketball and tennis), I really appreciate this,” said White, whose school will jump to Division I next year. “It’s not easy to win a section title. I’m not ready to move up. For me to say I want the Division I schools doesn’t make sense. I’m no fool, I’ll take a section title no matter what level.”