County Players Go to Miami for Easter Bowl Tennis

Taylor Dent of Newport Beach leads a large contingent of Orange County players in the prestigious Easter Bowl Tennis Tournament, which begins today at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami and continues through April 4.

The tournament had been played in Palm Springs the last two years but was moved because of a scheduling conflict this year with the event’s site, the Riviera Resort. Tournament founder Seena Hamilton said she expects the event back in Palm Springs next year.

Dent, 15, attended Corona del Mar last year but enrolled in independent study last fall. He won the boys’ 16 national hard courts in Kalamazoo, Mich., last summer and is in his first year of competition in the boys’ 18 division.

Newport Beach’s Brandis Braverman, a member of the U.S. National team, had been top-seeded in the girls’ 18 division but she had to pull out because of an ear infection and bronchitis.

Other county players in the boys’ 18s are Chase Exon of Woodbridge High, Joost Hol of Foothill and Ryan Moore of Servite. Faye DeVera of Villa Park is the only county player entered in the girls’ 18 division.

Los Alamitos sophomore Cody Jackson, coming off an upset of Southern California’s top-ranked 16-year-old, John Paul Fruttero, in the South Bay Tournament, is ninth-seeded in the boys’ 16s. Woodbridge sophomore David Lingman is also in the boys’ 16s. In the girls’ 16s, Mater Dei freshman Melissa Esmero and Corona del Mar freshman Caylan Leslie are entered.

No county players are seeded in the boys’ 14s or girls’ 14s, but six are entered. Jack Hunter of Corona del Mar and Brian Morton of Costa Mesa are in the boys’ 14s and Natalie Braverman of Newport Beach, Arpi Kojian of Santa Ana, Susanna Lingman of Irvine and Alexandra McGoodwin of Newport Beach are playing in the girls’ 14s.