Sheng, Edelberg Stage Smash Sequels

Encore, encore.

Repeats and three-peats were the order of the day in league tennis finals Tuesday.

Thousand Oaks High sophomore Phil Sheng, who won the Marmonte League singles title last season, repeated the feat, and senior Joey Edelberg of Oak Park won his third consecutive Tri-Valley League singles title.

Sheng blew past Westlake’s Alex Yaftali, 6-0, 6-4, and Edelberg defeated St. Bonaventure’s Mike Marquez, 6-1, 6-3.

It was business as usual for Sheng, a dominating serve-and-volley player who advanced to the semifinals in the Ojai tournament and recently helped a U.S. boys’ 16 team win the World Youth Cup tournament in Costa Rica.

And Edelberg’s victory was no surprise to Oak Park Coach Rob Hall.

“He’s an amazing tennis player,” Hall said. “He’s never had a big game. But he’s a real player. He’s just real crafty and he’s got a ton of shots. For me, it’s been a watershed four years watching him.”

The 5-foot-11 Edelberg has grown eight inches and added power to his strong baseline game since his freshman season, when he needed a variety of shots to compete. .

“In the last couple months, my game has really picked up,” he said.

The surge occurred after Edelberg decided to put down his racket.

Edelberg, who began competing as a 9-year-old, prepared for this season by cutting his practice and playing schedule. He believes the rest helped him rebound from a recurring rotator-cuff injury and renewed his desire to continue playing at UC Santa Cruz in the fall.

“It’s such a grind,” he said. “I basically had to live my life around tennis, practicing every day, playing in tournaments every weekend, so I decided to take a break. It was kind of like a breather, the calm before the storm.”

Edelberg is 45-2 this season, earning a berth in the Southern Section individual tournament that begins May 22.

He has advanced to the round of 16 in the section tournament the last two seasons and will be looking to go at least that far this year.

“I’m extremely confident. As long as I play well, I should do pretty well,” he said.

Sheng and Thousand Oaks did well in sweeping to leaguechampionships in singles and doubles for the first time. Senior Willie Mullin and freshman Andrew Lieu teamed to defeat Agoura’s Dustin Erb and Tim Mullane, 6-4, 6-4, in the doubles final.

“It actually meant more to me that the doubles team won, too,” Sheng said. “When I won the first set, 6-0, against Yaftali, the doubles team was right next to me, and I was like, ‘OK, you guys better kick some butt, too.’

“We had a lot of things going on as reasons to win, like that Willie was a senior, Andrew was a freshman, and I was repeating, and we did it.”

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Stating their cases as junior college All-Americans, Glendale women’s tennis players Rani Setiawati and Karoline Tomicich advanced to the state semifinals before Setiawati lost in singles and the pair fell in doubles last week at Blackhawk Country Club in Danville.

The top 10 singles players and top five doubles teams in the state earn All-American honors.

Setiawati, a freshman from Indonesia who won the Western State Conference singles title, lost in a semifinal to nemesis Sophie Han of Rio Hondo, 6-0, 6-2. They had split their previous two matches.

“Rani did everything she could to throw her off, but Sophie played probably the best match I’ve ever seen her play,” Glendale Coach Teri Coblentz said.

In men’s state competition, Glendale’s Andy Roland lost to Majiek Jozwiak of Desert, 6-1, 6-2, in a semifinal. Jozwiak lost to Scott Thompson of Palomar, 6-0, 6-1, in the final.

Roland and John Reading advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles before falling to Jozwiak and Albert Piasecki, 6-2, 6-2.

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Erik Nelson of Burbank High has been selected to the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Assn. of America’s Academic All-American team.

Nelson had a grade-point average of 3.75 or better in core subjects for at least seven semesters, including his senior season.

Nelson, a four-year varsity swimmer, competes in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events for the Bulldogs, but he will concentrate on academics when he attends UC Santa Barbara in the fall.

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Westlake romped to its eighth consecutive Marmonte League boys’ golf title last week, but the Warriors might not be as dominant next year if Simi Valley’s performance in the Southern Section Northern Regional at River Ridge Golf Club in Oxnard was any indication.

Simi Valley placed fourth with a 385, 10 strokes behind Westlake.

Moreover, four of Simi Valley’s top five scorers were sophomores--Mark Modglin shot a one-under-par 71, followed by Alan Johnson (77), Chris McLaughlin (79) and Dante Ciolfi (80).

Senior Kevin Garretson was Simi Valley’s No. 3 scorer at 78.

“I’m really proud of this team,” Simi Valley Coach Ty McDermott said after the regional. “They’re disappointed they didn’t make it, but you can’t fault the way they played today. . . . I think this is a great springboard for next year.”

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It will be interesting to see how Roy Moon of Royal plays in the Northern Regional individual tournament at La Cumbre Country Club in Santa Barbara on Monday.

Moon, a junior, won the four-round Marmonte League title by three strokes last week, but he shot a seven-over-par 78 in the final round at Sunset Hills Country Club in Thousand Oaks. He followed that with an eight-over 80 at River Ridge on Monday.

Staff writers John Ortega and Lauren Peterson contributed to this notebook.