Jones Has Been Perfect Fit at El Camino Real

If home is where the heart is, Marvin Jones has found his at El Camino Real High.

In previous years, his loyalty--and that of his family--was divided between El Camino Real and Taft.

Jones taught at Taft for 20 years while his wife, Karen, taught at El Camino Real and his two children played sports for the Conquistadores.

Marvin Jones Jr. and Tami Jones played on El Camino Real baseball and softball teams that won City Section titles in 1994.

“My wife works there and I’d been over there watching the kids for years,” Jones said. “I knew many of the students, teachers, and administrators, and we live very close to the school. We could walk there.”

Now, Marvin and Karen make the trip together.

Marvin left Taft and joined his wife at El Camino Real last fall, taking over as Conquistadores’ tennis coach after Phil Yanov vacated the position.

Jones coached the Taft girls since 1982 and the boys since 1985.

“I just started thinking this would be a good opportunity,” Jones said. “It seemed like a good time to make a change.”

The Conquistadores (10-0, 7-0 in league play), ranked No. 7 in the region by The Times, hope to continue their unbeaten season this week, when they play City Section power Granada Hills.

El Camino Real has beaten the Highlanders (9-1, 6-1) once, gaining the inside track track to the West Valley League championship with a 4-3 victory on March 28.

“Since we beat Granada Hills, we’ve gotten a lot more confidence,” said James Magsino, who is 7-2 this season as the No. 1 player. His only losses have come against Nima Roshan of Granada Hills and Jason Nguyen of Chatsworth.

“We know we can go undefeated, so we don’t want to mess it up. We’re starting to really believe we can do it.”

Jones can hardly believe how smoothly his transition from Taft to El Camino Real has gone.

“Coming in and getting a new coach is always a big question,” he said. “But they bought into my program.”

The players found it easy to do.

“We didn’t know what to expect, but he really impressed on us that he wanted a class program,” said Burton Newman, who plays No. 2 doubles with Eric Movseffian.

“He’s really taught us to handle ourselves, more than anything. That was his main theme, and I think we’ve all matured, both playing tennis and as people.”

That is his goal, Jones said.

“I told them, ‘Let your tennis do the talking. You don’t need to talk about yourselves, or how good you are,’ ” Jones said.

“I wanted them to just play the game. It can say a lot. And that’s what’s happening.”

Magsino, a junior ranked No. 29 in the boys’ 16 division in Southern California by the U.S. Tennis Assn., draws the toughest competition and has the only singles losses. Junior No. 2 player Matt Jones, sophomore No. 3 player Dan Nguyen and freshman No. 4 player Bruce Aiken are all 10-0.

Jones is ranked No 49 and Nguyen No. 69 in Southern California boys’ 16s. Aiken is at No. 20 in boys’ 14s and No. 102 in 16s.

The No. 1 doubles team of freshman Nick Kogan and junior Shaun Flynn (9-1) is unbeaten since the opener. Movseffian and Newman, and the No. 3 team of junior Eric Cross and freshman Don Nguyen, Dan’s brother, also have been effective.

“We’ve been winning pretty consistently throughout the lineup,” Jones said. “I’m working with a great bunch of guys. The camaraderie is good, both between them and between them and me.”

Not to mention between Jones and his new school.

“It was like a homecoming,” he said. “Everything kind of fell into place.”

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Newman was a member of El Camino Real’s academic decathlon team that finished first among City Section schools and fourth in the state in competition last month.

“Everybody said it would be really hard because you’d have to do two things,” said Newman, who carries a 3.8 grade-point average.

“But in a lot of ways, being able to play tennis was a relief from studying. They kind of balanced each other out.”

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El Camino Real, Westlake (11-0), ranked No. 2, and Rio Mesa (11-0), rated No. 5, are the only undefeated teams in the region.

Westlake, rated No. 3 in the Southern Section Division III coaches’ poll, has recorded quality victories over San Marcos, Marmonte League rival Thousand Oaks and Santa Margarita, ranked No. 5 team in Division III.

Seniors Alex Yaftali (14-1), Narbe Zohrabi and Garrett Wong have lent strength to singles.

The No. 1 team of seniors Mike Horak and Billy Corso (15-0) has provided leadership in doubles, where the Warriors have three freshmen.

Junior Matt Pardee and sophomore Aaron Burt have been challenged by their younger teammates at No. 2 doubles.

Josh Kuai, the coach’s son, usually plays No. 3 doubles with Jackson Ellis. Both are freshmen. But that team, plus freshman Alex Sundling and junior Allen Kim, also has played at No. 2 doubles, and Kuai and Sundling have seen time at No. 3 singles.

Westlake lost in the Southern Section Division III final last season, the Division II title match in 1998 and in the Division III final in 1997.

“Losing three straight like that has to affect you a little bit,” Kuai said. “We are playing much harder this year. We are very, very focused, and hopefully, with a little luck, we’ll be able to win the whole enchilada this time.”

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The Top 10

Rankings of boys’ tennis teams from the region

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RK School (League) Rec. 1 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 14-3 2 Westlake (Marmonte) 11-0 3 Burbank (Foothill) 10-1 4 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte) 9-3 5 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 11-0 6 Crespi (Mission) 13-2 7 El Camino Real (West Valley) 10-0 8 Granada Hills (West Valley) 9-1 9 Glendale (Pacific) 8-3 10 Camarillo (Pacific View) 8-2

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