Overcoming the Early Exits : Varvais Expects Longer Stay in Sectional Tournament

To the casual players sweating it out on the tennis courts at Rancho Park on a recent afternoon, Nick Varvais and Dylan Mann must have looked like Michael Chang and Andre Agassi.

The two teen-agers were brawling, hitting rocket serves at each other and counterpunching with blistering returns.

They screamed, groaned and barked at themselves on nearly every point in what they hoped was a dress rehearsal for the championship of the boys’ 18-and-under division of the 93rd Southern California Junior Sectional tournament, which starts today at Los Caballeros Sports Village in Fountain Valley.

They looked like men. They looked like pros.

The boys’ 18 draw will be tough, with Jason Cook of Woodland Hills seeded No. 1, and Varvais of Simi Valley and Peter Webb of Ventura seeded seventh and eighth. Mann, of Canoga Park, is not seeded, despite finishing third in the boys’ 16 sectional last year.

Cook has lost only one match this year in juniors play, but it is Varvais who has something to prove.

Seeded second last year in 16 singles, Varvais was stunned in the first round, losing to Scott Kintz of San Diego, 6-3, 7-6.

“I choked,” Varvais said, laughing about it now.

Varvais, 15, plays at a level well beyond his years, though his youth becomes apparent by a seeming devil-may-care attitude toward the disappointing loss.

But Varvais is still affected by that defeat and an ongoing battle with nerves, and he appears to be taking every precaution not to crash and burn again in this sectional.

Varvais plays an average of 3 1/2 hours a day, mostly against practice opponents who are bigger, stronger and more experienced.

He holds his own against Darren Pleasant, a former professional nine years older. Before he outlasted Mann, 6-4, 6-4, in the Rancho Park workout, Varvais was up, 6-4, 2-0, when time ran out in a match against Mark Ellis at Cal Lutheran. Ellis plays No. 1 singles for the Kingsmen.

“Last year I was a little nervous at being the No. 2 seed,” Varvais said. “It’s weird. Whenever I’m seeded high, I don’t do as well. When I’m not seeded I usually do pretty good.

“Last year in a tournament in Long Beach, they didn’t seed me when I should have been seeded No. 5. I won the tournament, because I was so mad they didn’t seed me.”

Varvais said he is mentally tougher now.

“I think I’m a little better in dealing with the pressure and nervousness,” he said.

He is a dark horse to win the sectional, the biggest tournament of the year in Southern California, because he is equally potent from the baseline and the net and few boys his age hit harder ground strokes.

But Varvais could be going to extremes this year to ease the pressure, saying he doesn’t expect to win the boys’ 18 division, which features several top players three years older than him. Varvais said he is setting his sights on 1996 for the championship.

But he can’t help looking to the past sometimes, because his best chance to win a Southern California title came last year.

“I was so depressed, I really thought I could have won that tournament,” he said. “I looked at [champion Joseph Gilbert of Fullerton] and I knew he was good. But I definitely thought I was a better player than him.”

After the disappointing first-round loss, Varvais won five consolation matches and finished sixth in the 1994 sectional. At year’s end he was ranked seventh by the Southern California Tennis Assn., his highest ranking since he joined the junior circuit seven years ago.

But Varvais could be selling himself short. Mann is convinced he will be a more-dangerous player this year.

“His transition game is better, he comes to the net now, he’s much better on baseline and he serves better,” Mann said. “The serve used to trouble him. He was inconsistent with it. Now he’s got a lot more velocity.”

Indeed, Varvais has made big improvements in every phase of his game. But power might be the biggest. Some of his ground strokes against Mann were so hard, the ball seemed to disappear on the other side of the net.

One of few top juniors players to compete in high school, Varvais played this spring for Royal High and finished 48-0 in sets, winning 29 of them by 6-0 scores.

Darren Joe, who played No. 1 singles for Westlake, said Varvais overwhelmed opponents in Marmonte League play.

“He kills the ball, basically, on his forehand,” Joe said. “He’s in great shape. You can’t try to out-hit him unless you’re bigger.

“If you try to hit with him with pace, forget it. If you mix up the pace, you might win a couple games off him. I’ve lost to him every time I’ve played him.”

On the rare occasions when Varvais loses, he often blames himself for losing his concentration--or worse, his composure.

“I used to get really mad during matches all the time,” he said. “I’d pretty much keep it to myself, especially during tournaments. But I’d start missing a lot, missing wide, hitting the net. Now I try to be real calm.”

The highlight of Varvais’ high school season came when he won the boys’ interscholastic division at the 96th Ojai Valley tennis championships-- 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 over Adam Webster of Santa Barbara.

But Varvais was once again battling his composure and had to cool his temper after losing the first set.

“I said to myself to relax and don’t worry about it,” he said. “I think if I got upset, I wouldn’t have won. But it turned out to be a nice victory. That was one of the best tournaments I’ve had.”

Varvais said his loss to Kintz was a lesson in the importance of mental toughness.

“It’s all in your head, I think,” he said. “I guess I wasn’t concentrating enough [against Kintz]. It’s whoever’s more focused. We’ve all got good shots and stuff. It’s just whoever’s working the hardest and keeping calm.”

Varvais said his goal this year is to win two matches and reach the quarterfinals. That way he would probably hold his suggested seeding of No. 7 and qualify for the national tournament later this summer.

“I know there’s a bunch of good players and I’ll probably have a good player in the first round,” Varvais said. “I should be able to take him. I mean, I’m playing good.

“But next year I’ll think about winning it all. I think I’m a year away.”

But with that mind-set, don’t be surprised if Varvais takes it all this year.