Servite’s Moore Is Moving Closer to Another Title Shot

It has been five years since Servite’s Ryan Moore won a title at his favorite tournament, the Ojai. That dry spell could come to an end today.

Moore charged into the boys’ interscholastic singles semifinals with an impressive victory over hard-hitting John Paul Fruttero of San Marino, 6-4, 6-3, Friday. Fruttero was the nation’s top 16-year-old player last year, but he could not handle Moore’s high-kicking serves and crisp volleys.

“The way he’s playing, he has a very good chance of winning this,” Fruttero said.

Moore, who will play J.J. Stewart of Los Angeles Loyola in the semifinals, said he has been aiming for Ojai all spring.

“I took an Easter break and worked out four hours a day, playing tennis, lifting weights and riding the bike,” he said. “I definitely treated winning this tournament as a goal of mine.”

The last two years, Moore fell short of his goal, losing in the quarterfinals. Last year, he was beaten by Beverly Hills’ Jose Lieberman, who Moore could meet in the final. Two years ago, he lost to eventual champion Geoff Abrams of Newport Harbor. As a freshman, Moore did not play because of an illness.

All that motivation nearly backfired on Moore in the first set against Fruttero. He came out tight and was down a service break early.

“I was kind of nervous,” he said. “My balls were flying out because I wasn’t moving my feet. That’s what I do when I’m nervous. I don’t move my feet. I need my feet. They are everything for me.”

But with the score tied at 4-4, Moore’s feet stopped failing him. He ran off eight straight points and took the set. The second set was all Moore as he displayed an excellent serve-and-volley game--a style that will serve him well as he moves into Pac-10 tennis next year at USC.

“I wanted to exploit his backhand, so I kick-served a lot to that side,” Moore said. “That opens up the court for the next shot. I had a good week of high school practice. I was doing a lot of serving and volleying in my high school matches.”

About the only excitement of the second set came when Moore questioned a few of Fruttero’s line calls.

“I was just burning a lot of nervous energy there,” Moore said.

Earlier, on an adjacent court, Corona del Mar’s Parker Collins became the third county victim of Point Loma’s Jason Pongsrikul’s forehand, losing, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, in the round of 16.

“He had a good forehand,” Collins said. “Once the ball was into his forehand, he was in control of the point. When I kept it to his backhand side, I was fine 90% of the time.”

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In the girls’ 16 singles, Saddleback freshman Kim Nguyen fought through a sore shoulder and calf muscle to reach the quarterfinals, but she was no match for Ojai’s Jieun Jacobs, who won, 6-1, 6-2, in 40 minutes.

Nguyen, Times Orange County player of the year in 1997, injured her right shoulder two weeks ago while hitting an overhead.

“It was killing me,” Nguyen said. “I couldn’t serve and I couldn’t run. All my running forehands and backhands were short.”

Late in the match, Nguyen even tried serving underhanded against Jacobs, who attended Newhall Hart High last year but is going to Ojai’s Weil Tennis Academy this year.

Nguyen has had a rough time lately. Her father died of pneumonia Jan. 30, six weeks after she reached the Southern Section individual semifinals. She hasn’t played much tennis in the last three months.

“My dad was the one who took me to all my matches,” she said. “I feel like somebody is not there. He was always sitting there on the court for all my matches.”

The only county player to reach the girls’ 16 semifinals was Corona del Mar’s Caylan Leslie, who cruised to straight-set victories over Jennifer Bailey of Capistrano Valley and Lindy First of San Diego.

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The UC Irvine men’s team advanced into the Big West Conference semifinals with a 4-2 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The 70th-ranked Anteaters will face 13th-ranked Boise State at 2:30 at Ojai Valley Racquet Club. Boise State is coached by former UCI Coach Greg Patton, who is leaving the school after the season for a coaching job with the United States Tennis Assn.

Irvine got victories from Nick Varvais, Brett Lucas and David Chang at Nos. 2, 3 and 4 singles and won the doubles point with victories from Chang and Varvais at No. 2 and David Matthew and Jeff Riba at No. 3.

“We’re playing a lot better right now than we were earlier in the season,” Chang said. “We’re trying to get into the [NCAA] regionals. I don’t know if we have to beat [Boise State] to get in, but I’m sure it would help.”

Ojai Notes

In the boys’ 16 singles, Henry Mak of Irvine defeated Drew Hoskins of Los Alamitos, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0, to reach the semifinals. Aaron Yovan of Irvine advanced to the boys’ 14 semifinals with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Robert Sabo of Rancho Mirage. In the girls’ 14s, Ashley Maddocks of Laguna Beach reached her second consecutive semifinal with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Lauren Perl of San Diego. . . . In the Pac-10 men’s invitational singles quarterfinals, Stanford’s Geoff Abrams (Newport Harbor) lost to UCLA’s Noah Newman, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Abrams and Charles Hoeveler reached the doubles semifinals with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Adnan Nova and Mike Huss of Washington. . . . In the Pac-10 Invitational women’s doubles, Arizona State’s Faye DeVera (Villa Park) and Kerry Giardino will play UCLA’s Brandi Freudenberg (El Modena) and Kelly Rudolph in the semifinals. . . . In men’s community college play, Saddleback’s Kunio Koga advanced to today’s quarterfinals with two straight-set victories. In women’s competition, Orange Coast’s Martha Garcia and Denise Poirel defeated Ashley Nelson and Gina Nardiello of Santa Barbara, 7-5, 7-5, to advance to the quarterfinals. Camella Jaeger and Sarah Melissa Walker of Orange Coast lost to Fresno’s Emel Ramandan and Sarah Brock, 6-4, 6-0, in the round of 16. Jaeger was also eliminated in the round of 16 singles by Ramandan, 6-2, 6-3, and Garcia was eliminated in the third round of singles.