Mak Casts His Vote for Easter Bowl Appearance

Henry Mak, a soph- omore at University, wants his constituents to know he didn’t make his decision lightly. But he has decided to take a week-long break from his campaign for junior class president to play in the Easter Bowl junior tennis championships in Palm Springs.

Mak is the second-seeded player in the boys’ 16 division of the prestigious national tournament, held at Riviera Resort and Racquet Club. He will be playing his first match on Friday, the same day as University’s election convention.

“ASB is for fun,” Mak said. “It gives me time away from tennis and all the pressure that goes with it.”

Mak has been handling the pressure pretty well lately as evidenced by his No. 4 national ranking in boys’ 16s. Mak had a top-10 finish at the national clay courts last summer, and in November, he reached the finals of the national indoors in Boston.

Last weekend, Mak reached the semifinals of the Long Beach designated tournament before losing to top-seeded Doug Stewart of Malibu.

On Wednesday, Mak will tune up for the Easter Bowl when his top-ranked Trojans play at second-ranked Corona del Mar. Corona del Mar’s singles lineup features nationally-ranked Brian Morton and Cameron Ball. In University’s 12-6 victory over the Sea Kings two weeks ago, Mak beat Ball, 6-4, but lost to Morton, 6-4.

“It was 4-4, but I double-faulted three times in the next game,” Mak said. “And that was pretty much the set.”

Mak, who plays an attacking, baseline style, realizes he can’t make mistakes like that in Palm Springs.

“I know the matches are going to be tougher, longer and more grueling,” he said, “but I’m looking forward to it.”

Mak said he was also looking forward to the Ojai tournament, where he has reached the boys’ 16 semifinals the past two years. But this time, Mak will stay true to his constituents.

“The speeches and voting are on the Friday of Ojai [April 28],” Mak said. “I would have loved to play there, but the election is more important to me.”

ADD EASTER BOWL

Mak is one of seven county players entered in the boys’ 16 division in Palm Springs. Also competing are Morton, Mak’s high school teammates Aaron Yovan and Jack Li, Servite’s Patrick Buchanan, Santa Margarita’s Garrett Snyder and ninth-seeded Matt Loucks of Irvine, who does not play high school tennis.

In the boys’ 18s, Capistrano Valley’s Michael Nguyen is the only county competitor. In the girls’ 18s, the county is represented by 16th-seeded Caylan Leslie of Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor’s Audra Adams and Natalie Braverman, Mater Dei’s Melissa Esmero, Woodbridge’s Susanna Lingman, Saddleback’s Kim Nguyen, Villa Park’s Arpi Kojian and Amber Tantee of Dana Point.

The girls’ 16s division has eight county players: Woodbridge’s Elizabeth Exon and Evangalina Soriano, Corona del Mar’s Kim Singer and Anne Yelsey, Cypress’ Samantha Waller, Dana Hills’ Kady Pooler, Laguna Beach’s Ashley Maddocks and Lindsey Nelson, an eighth-grader from Orange.

In the girls’ 14s, Anaheim’s Tracy Lin is seeded 10th. Other county participants are Erin Ivey of Laguna Niguel, Ashley Williams of Irvine, Elizabeth Ferris of Anaheim, Serena Fermin of Yorba Linda and Cosmina Ciobanu of Brea.

In the boys’ 14s, Adam Loucks of Irvine and Jonathan Sanchez of Fullerton are each seeded 17th. Unseeded county players are Lawrence Wang of Anaheim Hills, Greg Sturman of Fullerton, Raji Sondhu of Laguna Niguel and Carsten Ball of Newport Beach.

The winners of the 18s will receive wild-card entry into the qualifying rounds of the Mercedes-Benz Cup and USTA Challenger events.

The Easter Bowl, which was held in Miami, Fla., last year, begins Friday and ends April 22. More than 640 players from 40 states will participate in singles and doubles divisions.

INJURY WOES

On Sunday, tournament director Seena Hamilton will present two seminars on injuries: “Keeping Seniors on the Court” at 3 p.m. and “Keeping Tennis Teens Free of Injury,” at 7:45 p.m.

The seminars are an outgrowth of Hamilton’s three-year-old survey on tennis injuries. They will feature Dr. Marc Safran, co-director of sports medicine at Kaiser Permanente in Anaheim, and Dr. Sam Refer, director of sports medicine at Desert Orthopedic.

If you have an item or idea for the prep boys’ tennis report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at david.mckibben@latimes.com