Sea Kings Roll Past Warriors

Last night, Corona del Mar senior Parker Collins considered letting his teammates try to win the Southern Section boys’ tennis title without him. Collins’ back was so sore he could barely lift his right arm over his head.

But the more Collins thought about it, he knew he had to be on the Palisades Tennis Club courts Wednesday against Sea View League rival Woodbridge.

“If we won, I didn’t want to be sitting out and not be a part of it,” he said. “If we had lost, I’d have thought it was my fault.”

As it turned out, Corona del Mar would have won the Division I title even without the two points Collins and his partner Peter Kulmaticki won in doubles. The third-seeded Sea Kings dominated the fourth-seeded Warriors, 12-6, to win their first section title in 16 years.

“I knew I couldn’t play singles,” said Collins, who injured his back playing singles in last Thursday’s section individuals. “I could only serve sidearm and I couldn’t hit a two-handed return. All I could do was hit forehand volleys and forehand ground strokes. But Peter hardly missed a shot the first few games and that got us off a to a good start.”

Collins and Kulmaticki went on to win their opening set, 6-1, over Paul Strozier and Andy Middleton. It was one of five sets the Sea Kings (22-1) took. Woodbridge’s only first-set victory was a hard-earned one, as No. 1 singles player David Lingman rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to beat Christian Jensen, 7-5.

“We thought the first round was the most important one,” Lingman said. “We knew we’d have to get into their heads with a few doubles sets.”

Woodbridge did just that in the last meeting a month ago by winning six of nine doubles sets in an 11-7 loss. But Wednesday, Corona del Mar won six of the nine doubles points, getting three from Brian Morton and Randy Myers at No. 1, two from Collins and Kulmaticki and one from Curtis Ellmore and Sam Shamardi.

By the end of the second round, Corona del Mar led, 9-3, and needed only to win a few games to clinch the match. Within 20 minutes, the Sea Kings got their 10th set when Jensen beat Jim Hunter, 6-2. Jensen lost the deciding set in last year’s heartbreaking finals loss to Palos Verdes Peninsula.

“It felt good to be the one to win it,” said Jensen, one of the Sea Kings’ five seniors along with Collins, Ellmore, Shamardi and Sameer Chopra. “I had last year in the back of my mind.”

Woodbridge had visions of winning its third section title in four years after upsetting top-seeded Los Alamitos in the semifinals. Instead the Warriors finished their season with 18 victories and five losses, three to Corona del Mar.

“We’ve won two times and they’ve been denied three times,” Woodbridge senior Amir Bagherpour said. “I guess today they couldn’t be denied.”

Especially Collins.

“Parker made it easier on us,” said Corona del Mar Coach Tim Mang, who was doused afterward with a jug of ice water. “Parker’s fantastic. He didn’t have his whole game, but he was good enough to go through the No. 2 and 3 doubles teams.”