Moore Upset in Straight Sets in Round of 16

Servite senior Ryan Moore didn’t expect his high school tennis career to end like this. Not in the Southern Section individual round of 16, in a straight-set loss to Ventura’s Erin Carroll, a player he usually handles with ease.

But if Pete Sampras can lose in the second round of French Open to the 97th-ranked player in the world, then the best high school tennis player in Southern California the last two years can have an off day.

Moore, the defending Ojai and section individuals champion, wasn’t in top form physically or mentally Friday. A sore hip limited his movement and Carroll’s flawless play put a lot of self doubt into Moore’s head. The result was a 7-6, (7-5), 6-3, victory by Carroll at SeaCliff Tennis Club.

“He was playing well, not making any errors,” Moore said. “I’ve played him many times before and had no trouble.”

But Carroll ran into some trouble of his own in his next match against Laguna Beach’s Aaron Talarico. This time, Carroll was making the unforced errors and Talarico was steady while winning, 7-5, 6-0.

Talarico is the only county player remaining in the singles draw. Corona del Mar’s Parker Collins and Los Alamitos’ Cody Jackson were beaten in the round of 16 in straight sets by Brentwood’s Gabe Goldstein and third-seeded Jose Lieberman of Beverly Hills, who will meet Talarico in the semifinals at 10:30 a.m.

Talarico expected to see the second-seeded Moore in the quarterfinals, but adjusted to Carroll’s penetrating groundstrokes.

“He played an unorthodox game,” Talarico said. “He hit his forehand a certain way and he had a slicing backhand. But I took his slice and sliced it back.”

Talarico, who was unseeded, said he’s not overly surprised to find himself in the semifinals.

“It can surprise other people, but not me,” said Talarico, who will play tennis next year at Notre Dame without a scholarship. “I always feel like I can beat anyone.”

Moore usually has that mental edge, but Friday he didn’t seem to have it. He was serving for the first set at 6-5, but lost his serve and eventually the tiebreaker. He fell behind, 5-2, in the second set, but appeared to be gaining momentum when he broke Carroll. But he made several unforced errors in the next game. Moore was controlling the point when he hit a drop shot that didn’t drop. Carroll came running in and easily smashed a forehand past Moore. On the next point, Moore double-faulted, and that was that.

Notes

Two county doubles teams remain, top-seeded Mission Viejo’s Eric Bachelor and Leandro D’Agostini and Aliso Niguel’s Jason Mednick and Chris Kan. . . . Corona del Mar’s Sameer Chopra and Curtis Ellmore fell to Palos Verdes Peninsula’s Seamus and Tiege Sullivan, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2. The Sullivans will meet Bachelor and D’Agostini in the semifinals and Mednick and Kan will play David Gleiberman and Maurice Yu of Peninsula.