Fallon Gets Wake-Up Call, Advances to Semifinals

Most teenage boys hate being scolded, especially in front of friends.

But when an umpire cited Brandon Fallon for unsportsmanlike conduct Friday in front of his Dana Hills High teammates, Fallon straightened up and responded with his second big victory of the day at Thacher School in the 96th Ojai Valley Tennis tournament.

Fallon, who was losing in the second set, came back to beat sixth-seeded Scott Borenstein of Los Angeles Brentwood, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the semifinals of the boys’ interscholastic division.

Fallon’s victory over Borenstein barely sent shock waves, however, after Fallon had toppled second-seeded Adam Webster of Santa Barbara, 7-5, 6-3, earlier in the day.

Borenstein was leading, 3-1 in the second set and 40-5 with Fallon serving when umpire Marie Smith interrupted the match, which was played on the lowest set Thacher’s three-tiered, hillside courts.

Smith came down from the top of the hill and issued a warning to Fallon for yelling a profanity after he lost a point.

“I don’t know how she calls it from up there, but it helped,” Fallon said. “I was pretty tired at that point, and she woke me up a little.”

Instead of falling behind, 4-1, Fallon came back to win his service to trail, 3-2. He later broke the last two service games of Borenstein to win the match.

Nobody could blame the junior for being tired. Temperatures were in the 90s for the second day in a row, and Fallon likely expended most of his energy on Webster.

“It think it’s a big upset,” said Fallon, who beat Webster for the second time in three matches by attacking the backhand.

“That’s his weaker side, and he has a big forehand. But he was missing a lot on both sides.”

Fallon came into the match more relaxed than he would have, because he thought Martin Kozakowski of Downey Warren was going to be his quarterfinal opponent.

“There’s a mental thing with me playing seeded players,” Fallon said. “I get kind of intimidated.”

With Fallon reaching the semifinals for the first time in five tries at Ojai, he will fight the intimidation factor today against third-seeded Noah Newman of Los Angeles Marshall. Newman defeated Matt Snowden of Calabasas, 6-1, 7-5.

Top-seeded Geoff Abrams of Newport Harbor will play in the other semifinal after winning two matches Friday. Abrams defeated Brett Hankey of Huntington Beach, 6-1, 6-3, in the quarters after beating Ryan Moore of Servite, 6-2, 6-4.

Abrams will face Nick Varvais of Simi Valley Royal in the semis. He beat Varvais in straight sets last July en route to his championship in the Southern California Junior Sectional. But Abrams said Varvais will be tougher this time.

“That was a pretty easy match with him last year,” Abrams said. “But I saw him today and he looked better.”

Both semifinal matches will be at 8 a.m. at Libbey Park.

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Ojai notes

Faye DeVera of Villa Park and Kristina Kraszewski of Torrance advanced to today’s 11 a.m. final in girls’ 18 doubles against Shera Wiegler of Calabasas and Kerry Giardino of Palos Verdes. . . . In girls’ 16s, Katey Becker of Orange advanced to the semifinals of singles.

In boys’ 16s, Chase Exon of Irvine advanced to the semifinals of singles;Tom Lloyd and Carl McCafferty of Yorba Linda advanced to the finals of doubles, facing Mark Gonzalez and Justin Kiley of Pomona at 8 a.m. at Libbey Park.

Top-seeded UC Irvine defeated Utah State, 6-0, in the first round of the Big West Conference Men’s Tennis Championships. Irvine plays UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals today. The finals are Sunday.

Missy Hosoi and Sydney Weinberg of Saddleback College defeated Santa Rosa’s Pam Heffernan and Nancy Hoke, 6-2, 7-5, to advance to the doubles quarterfinals. Hosoi and Weinberg lost third-round singles matches and Saddleback’s Marie Hosoi and Noel Saduddin lost their third-round doubles match.