Miyake Still Playing on Wounded Knee

C.J. Miyake took up tennis four years ago, a few months after he noticed a lump on his right knee.

Miyake is still playing and the lump is still growing, to the point that it is now about the size of, well, a tennis ball.

“Maybe a little bit smaller,” Miyake said. “It doesn’t look too good. It’s not very attractive.”

Miyake, a senior at Moorpark High, plans to have the benign tumor removed this year. But he put off surgery to complete his senior season.

“My mom really wants it out now,” Miyake said. “People see it and go, ‘What the heck is that?’

“But the doctors said it’s up to me and I said it’s not that bad. This is my last year. I thought I might as well play through it.”

The knee bothers him occasionally on the court, Miyake said, but it has never kept him from playing.

Miyake is captain of the Musketeers, in their second season in the rugged Marmonte League.

The Musketeers (4-5, 1-5 in league play), who didn’t win a league match last year, earned their first Marmonte victory last week by defeating Newbury Park, 11-7.

As a reward, Coach Chris Wright sprung for burgers for his players.

“It cost him a pretty penny, but it was OK,” Miyake said. “We’re just trying to establish ourselves and be competitive in the league. That’s why when we do win, it’s the greatest thing, because it doesn’t happen very often.”

Miyake won two of three round-robin sets in the Newbury Park match. He is 15-12 as the Musketeers’ No. 2 singles player.

“He’s playing real well right now,” Wright said of Miyake. “Before the season, he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to play. I’m so glad he did, not just because of the way he plays, but also because he makes it fun out there. He brings everyone together.”

*

With his team on the rise on the nationally, Coach Keith Huyssoon of Harvard-Westlake took time for a dive this week.

Last Saturday, the Wolverines finished playing their second national tournament in two weeks. They notched Mission League victories over Notre Dame and St. Francis, and a nonleague victory over Horace Mann of New York.

Huyssoon, ranked No. 16 in the men’s 40 division in the U.S. Tennis Assn.’s Southern California section, is a certified scuba diver and left Monday on a week-long vacation to Cozumel, Mexico.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Huyssoon said from Mexico. “But it’s just beautiful here. It’s really something to see.”

Huyssoon’s scuba-diving expedition followed a two-week excursion into national prominence by Harvard-Westlake (14-3).

The Wolverines, ranked No. 2 in the Southern Section Division I, were runners-up last Saturday in a one-day, round-robin event sponsored by the National High School Federation in Overland Park, Kan.

Cardinal Gibbons of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., won the tournament for the second consecutive year.

Harvard-Westlake finished 2-1 in the four-team tournament, losing to Cardinal Gibbons, 5-4, in a match that got away.

The decisive loss in the pro-set match came at No. 1 doubles, where Andrew Rosenfeld and Jesse Ferlianto fell in a tie-breaker after losing five match points.

“They’re a very strong team but we went toe-to-toe with them,” Huyssoon said of Cardinal Gibbons. “I’m so proud of the guys and I think they’re pretty happy too.”

The Wolverines defeated Rockhurst (Mo.), 6-3, and Miami Sunset, 6-3.

Harvard-Westlake played from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.

“It was one long day,” Huyssoon said. “It’s a tough format. If I had any say in it, I’d say make it a two-day tournament at all costs. You’d rather there be a little time in between the matches so it feels like a tournament. But it’s almost like one big match.”

The Kansas event came on the heels of the two-day National High School Tennis All-American tournament in Newport Beach the previous weekend. Harvard-Westlake finished third.

“I think it was good exposure for us,” Huyssoon said. “It was definitely a challenge, and that’s what I wanted to give the guys.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Boys’ Tennis Top 10

Rankings of teams in the region

*--*

Rk School (League) Rec. 1 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 14-3 2 Westlake (Marmonte) 8-0 3 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte) 8-2 4 Burbank (Foothill) 9-1 5 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 8-0 6 Crespi (Mission) 10-2 7 El Camino Real (West Valley) 8-0 8 Granada Hills (West Valley) 7-1 9 Glendale (Pacific) 7-3 10 Agoura (Marmonte) 6-2

*--*