Section Reduces Doubles Scoring in Boys’ Tennis Playoffs

The Southern Section Council did an about-face Thursday, voting to make doubles victories in boys’ tennis matches worth one point during the playoffs.

The scoring system was changed last season to 1 1/3 points per doubles victory to offset complaints that a team could win a match with as few as three good singles players. The rationale was that increasing the scoring value of doubles victories--taking the total match points from 18 to 21--would make tennis more of a team sport.

The latest change was proposed by Marmonte League representative Dale Ackerman at the council’s meeting at the Sequoia Club.

Boys’ tennis, in effect, now has two scoring systems. Leagues can use either method during the regular season, but once the playoffs begin, it’s back to one point.

“A survey of coaches in our league showed they didn’t like the current system,” Ackerman said. “It made doubles more important than singles--to the point that it would take four singles wins to beat three doubles wins.”

But the groundswell for reversal might not be as widely shared as Ackerman maintains, according to Corona del Mar Coach Tim Mang.

Mang said a straw vote of coaches at the section playoffs last year favored by one vote returning to the one-point scoring system. “But not all the high school coaches were told of the (taking of the) vote,” Mang said. “So there was an understanding that things would stay the same, and a flyer would be sent to every coach to try to get (a more complete) vote.

“This action may help me because I don’t have as strong a doubles team. But it wasn’t done right. It’s obvious the voting principals haven’t talked with their coaches. It won’t throw the playoffs into disarray, but people are going to say, ‘What’s going on with Southern Section?’ with all of these rule changes.”

In another action, the council voted to continue the summer “dead period,” a three-week stretch usually in August, during which a coach is not allowed contact with players.

Provisions would allow principals to petition the section for exceptions, such as a high school coach who also coaches national or individual competitions with a player on both teams.