Sunny Hills Goes to Wire to Beat Harvard-Westlake

Sunny Hills and North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake apparently enjoyed their Division II semifinal matchup of last season so much, they decided to do it all over again--down to the last detail.

Well, almost. This time, however, it was Sunny Hills that won by the smallest of margins, defeating the top-seeded Wolverines by only two games, 9-9 (78-76), Thursday at Sunny Hills Racquet Club.

Fourth-seeded Sunny Hills (18-4) advanced to its fifth championship match in seven years, Tuesday against San Marino (19-4), an upset winner over Palm Desert. Harvard-Westlake met Palm Desert in last year’s final after knocking off then top-seeded Sunny Hills by six games.

And the hero for the Lancers? Chris Chung or John Han, who each swept their sets at No. 1 and No. 2 singles? Nope.

Chung said it was sophomore Chang Park, whose scores at No. 3 singles (2-6, 1-6, 2-6) were hardly impressive, but might have been the difference.

“[Chang Park] really came through for us today,” Chung said. “Last year was a good experience for us. It got us thinking today about what happened. We were pulling for every point and hustling for every ball.”

Lancer Coach Steve White agreed. He said last season’s No. 3 player won only two games.

“Park did a nice job today,” he said. “He made their guys hit a lot of balls. That made this a real team effort from these kids.”

Sunny Hills had the early momentum, taking a 4-2 lead after the first round.

“We came out pumped after that,” Han said. “I think [the match] would have been a lot different [without the lead]. We would have been more tense.”

Han, who won his sets, 6-4, 6-2, 6-0, also gained some personal revenge, defeating Harvard-Westlake’s top player, David Brown. Brown beat Han in last year’s semifinal.

Chung was also strong, sweeping, 6-2, 6-0, 6-2.

Harvard-Westlake (20-3) won six doubles sets, but Davin Lin and Shaun Harris of Sunny Hills won their first two. Their final set, against Brian Berzonsky and Kamyar Daneshuar, was the last in progress Wednesday, with Lin and Harris losing, 7-6 (8-6), but winning enough games to carry the Lancers to victory.