Talented Wolverines Ready for Challenges

Keith Huyssoon, the first-year coach of the Harvard-Westlake High boys’ tennis team, believes the Wolverines are special, and he treats them that way.

Allowances are made for players preferring to work out with private coaches rather than teammates. The team is required to gather for only one practice a week, although many players get together more frequently.

In addition, the Wolverines have the toughest nonleague schedule in the region.

“I’ve got to do something to challenge these guys,” Huyssoon said. “I believe my role as a coach is to try to address the needs of the players. Every chance I have, I want to keep them motivated.”

Huyssoon petitioned the Southern Section--at the players’ request--to allow the Wolverines to move up from Division II to Division I, where they will compete in the postseason.

The move comes after Harvard-Westlake won the Division II championship last year and two consecutive Division III titles before that.

Harvard-Westlake, which finished third in the first National High School Tennis All-American tournament at various sites in Orange County last weekend, will play in another national event in Missouri beginning Saturday.

Huyssoon also scheduled nonleague matches against Peninsula, ranked No. 2 in Division I; Beverly Hills, ranked No. 1 in Division III; traditional area power Calabasas, ranked No. 4 in Division IV; Brentwood, ranked No. 1 in Division V; and a home match today against Horrace Mann of New York, which also competed in the Orange County national event.

The Wolverines (9-2, 5-0 in Mission League play) are handling the rugged schedule well. Both of their losses are to Peninsula, in a nonleague season opener and in the semifinals Saturday. They defeated Corona del Mar, ranked No. 1 in Division I, in the third-place match of the national tournament.

Harvard-Westlake’s lineup includes six players ranked among the top 65 in their age groups in Southern California, including four rated among the top 200 nationally.

Regular No. 1 player Prakash Amritraj, a junior who has yet to join the team because he is in the midst of an International Tennis Federation tour of Asia, is ranked No. 6 in Southern California and No. 21 nationally in boys’ 16s. Senior Andrew Rosenfeld, playing No. 1 singles in Amritraj’s absence, is ranked 18th in Southern California boys’ 18s and No. 123 nationally.

Senior Aron Gortman is No. 24 in 18s regionally and No. 173 nationally. Sophomore transfer Jesse Ferlianto, the Foothill League singles champion at Hart last season, is ranked No. 28 in boys’ 16s in Southern California and No. 145 nationally.

Senior David Frankel, the Wolverines’ No. 2 player, is ranked No. 60 in Southern California in boys’ 18s, and sophomore John Lee holds a No. 64 regional ranking.

Those players are part of the Wolverines’ “A” team, but there is also what Huyssoon calls a “varsity B” team, which has played most of the Mission League matches and is better than most varsity teams.

“A team like this doesn’t come along very often,” Huyssoon said. “It’s exciting, but it’s also challenging. My immediate reaction when I took over was, ‘Gee, I hope we can live up to the talent that’s here.’

“I believe, in their hearts, they believe they can go toe-to-toe with any team in the country.”

Now they’re doing their best to prove it.

OTHER TEAMS TO WATCH

Westlake: The Warriors (4-0, 3-0 in the Marmonte League), who have lost in Southern Section divisional finals for three consecutive seasons, are primed to make another championship run.

The defending Marmonte champions (22-2 last season) lost No. 1 player Erik Janson to graduation. But Alex Yaftali, Westlake’s No. 2 player for three seasons, has ably filled the top spot. He is ranked No. 33 in the boys’ 18 division in Southern California.

Senior Narbe Zohrabi plays No. 2 singles. Westlake, which lost in the Division III final last year, was boosted by the return of No. 3 singles player Garrett Wong, ranked No. 16 in boys’ 16s in Southern California. He played for the Warriors as a freshman and sophomore but sat out last season.

Westlake also boasts depth in doubles. The top team of seniors Mike Horak and Billy Corso returns, as does the team of junior Matt Pardee and sophomore Aaron Bert, who are battling junior Allen Kim and freshman Joshua Kuai for the No. 2 spot.

Thousand Oaks: The Lancers (5-1, 3-0 in the Marmonte League) advanced to the Division II semifinals and were second to Westlake in league play last year. They are expected to challenge the Warriors again.

Thousand Oaks returns seven players, led by junior Philip Sheng, the defending Southern Section singles champion and two-time defending Marmonte champion. He is ranked No. 6 in the boys’ 18 division in Southern California and No. 37 nationally.

Also returning is No. 2 player Andrew Lieu, a sophomore who teamed with Willie Mullin to win the Marmonte doubles title and advance to the Southern Section semifinals last year. Mullin graduated.

Thousand Oaks’ doubles lineup is bolstered by the return of Jason Korniski, Serge Mitrofanov, Willem Suckow and Jayme Reynolds.

Burbank: The Bulldogs (6-0, 0-0) are favored to win their 13th consecutive Foothill League title.

Junior Tigran Martirosyan returns at No. 1 singles after going 33-3 last season, when Burbank failed to advance to the playoff quarterfinals for the first time in 12 seasons.

The Bulldogs have received a boost from junior newcomer Shara Surabi at No. 2 singles. An Iranian who lived in Sweden last year, Surabi is 14-1 in sets and won the singles title at the Palmdale tournament last week.

Surabi and Tigran (also 14-1) have lost only to Robert Yim, Glendale’s No. 1 player. Romik Yeghazary plays No. 3 singles for Burbank.

The emergence of Surabi and Yeghazary has bounced Eugene Shin, last year’s No. 2 singles player, to No. 1 doubles with Min Kang. They won the Palmdale tournament doubles title.

Chris Lau, one of three seniors, has suffered from shoulder problems but can play singles or doubles.

Glendale: The Dynamiters (5-1, 0-0), who finished third in the Pacific League last year after winning four consecutive titles, should battle for supremacy with Arcadia.

The biggest reason for optimism is the arrival of No. 1 player Robert Yim (18-0), a freshman ranked No. 22 in boys’ 16s in Southern California.

Senior Edwin Eslava and junior Andy Kim play No. 1 doubles. The Dynamiters had brothers John and Jay Sim at No. 2 doubles, but Jay was ruled academically ineligible Friday. Senior Peter Kim is expected to replace him.

Rio Mesa: The defending Pacific View League-champion Spartans (4-0, 0-0) are aiming for another title.

No. 1 singles player Quinn Borchard, headed to Portland on a partial tennis scholarship, has a 120-6 record the last three seasons and will anchor a singles lineup that includes junior Davey Jones, ranked No. 31 in Southern California in boys’ 16s.

Chris Worthington is 125-13 in doubles the last three seasons. He and partner Bryan Arias are 8-1 this season.

Granada Hills: The Highlanders (4-0, 1-0) are traditionally among the best City Section teams in the region.

They return several key players from a team that finished 14-2 and reached the City Championship final for the third time in four seasons.

Playing singles are Vlad Kinevsky, Yury Tsirulsky and Brad Steinberg, an All-City doubles player who lost in the City final with Brian Mintz last season. Sophomore Nima Roshan, a transfer from Cleveland, is the No. 1 player.

Mintz is playing No. 1 doubles with Eric Weiss, a singles player last year. Mintz and Weiss were partners on the junior varsity team.

Campbell Hall: The Vikings (2-3, 0-1) are a Division V team playing one of the toughest schedules in the region. They have losses to Brentwood, Glendale and Calabasas, and victories over Hoover and Valencia.

Campbell Hall returns senior left-hander Adam Zunder at No. 1 singles. He is a four-year varsity player and is ranked No. 22 in the boys’ 18 division in Southern California.

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AT A GLANCE

* THE PROVEN: Calabasas High senior Nick Weiss was the 1999 Southern Section singles runner-up to Thousand Oaks’ Philip Sheng. . . . The Coyotes’ top doubles team of Braden Aftergood and Trevor Hinden is in its fourth season together. They advanced to the round of 16 in the Southern Section tournament last year. . . . Agoura is 4-1 behind the play of senior Amir Nejad, the No. 54-ranked player in boys’ 18s in Southern California. . . . Seniors Ross Erlich and Michael Shrage have returned at No. 1 doubles and are 10-2 for Campbell Hall. . . . Crespi No. 1 player Stephen Amritraj is ranked No. 17 in boys’ 16s in Southern California and No. 62 nationally. Mike Smith, who was part of a Mission League champion doubles team last year, now plays No. 2 singles for the Celts (5-1). . . . Quinn Borchard was 40-2, won the Pacific View League title and advanced to the round of 16 in the Southern Section tournament as a junior. . . . Junior Luu Singh of Quartz Hill is the defending Golden League singles champion and teammates Steven Roth and Kevin Lu won the league doubles title. The Rebels have won the league team title nine consecutive years. . . . Jeff Melnick and Levon Chakmakjian are the top players on an experienced Birmingham team. . . . Chatsworth’s Jason Nguyen is ranked No. 122 nationally in boys’ 16s.

* THE PROMISING: Glendale’s Robert Yim (18-0) is the best of a strong crop of freshmen in the region. He is ranked No. 22 in boys’ 16s in Southern California and No. 100 nationally. . . . Crespi’s success in the tough Mission League depends largely on the development of freshmen Steven Bondy, Freddy Treibel and Marc McNicolle. . . . Sophomore Andrew Papworth, who was 39-2 for the Valencia junior varsity team last year, is playing No. 3 singles. . . . Freshman Lex Barte is in the same position for Chaminade. . . . Agoura Coach Stuart Limbert calls junior Tim Mullane the best athlete he has ever had in the program.

* FAST FACT: Harvard-Westlake has won three consecutive Southern Section titles. Westlake has lost in three consecutive section finals.