Buchanan’s Victory Is Replay for Servite

Inspired by Servite High alumnus Ryan Moore’s scintillating performance in the Pac-10 men’s tournament, Servite’s Patrick Buchanan outlasted Aaron Yovan of University Saturday in the Ojai boys’ interscholastic singles final, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, at Libbey Park.

Buchanan became the first Orange County player to win the title since Moore won it in 1998.

“I saw [Moore] moving his feet really well and never giving up,” Buchanan said. “I took that into my match.”

Buchanan and Moore seemingly lacked the size and power to keep up with their opponents, Yovan and Jean-Noel Grinda of UCLA. But they used their quickness and ball-striking ability to pull out their matches.

“I don’t try to play the person, I play the ball,” Buchanan said. “They call me the giant killer.”

After taking the first set, Buchanan ran into problems when Yovan began going for his shots. Yovan won the second set easily by finishing off points in a hurry.

“I stepped it up in the second set with the power game,” Yovan said. “I should have done that in the first set.”

By the third set, Yovan was dragging. He trailed, 3-0, recovered to take a 4-3 lead and then crawled to the finish.

“Once I saw him go down with a cramp [when trailing 4-5], I knew I had a lot more left in the tank than he did,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan wasn’t seeded and he never expected to win an Ojai title. But the breaks fell his way. Top-seeded K.C. Corkery of Manhattan Beach Mira Costa and fourth-seeded Rob Yim of Glendale withdrew because of injury in his half of the draw and his third-round opponent, Davey Jones of Oxnard Rio Mesa, defaulted with an injury.

“I had a good draw, good breaks and I took advantage,” said Buchanan, who beat Sergiu Modoc of El Dorado, 6-2, 6-0, in the semifinals.

In the boys’ interscholastic doubles final, Brian Morton and Garrett Snyder of Corona del Mar appeared on their way to an easy victory after winning the first set against Jeff Kazarian and Tiege Sullivan of Palos Verdes Peninsula, but they wound up losing, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Kim-Ahn Nguyen of Saddleback High won her second Ojai title in three years and her sixth junior tournament in a row with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Anne Yelsey of Corona del Mar. Yelsey reached the final with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Tracy Lin of Canyon.

Nguyen said the key to her recent success is the Graziano Tennis Academy in Irvine, which she joined two months ago.

“My conditioning is better than ever and that helps me mentally and physically,” she said.

Nguyen is contemplating playing the professional satellite circuit this fall, but she is intrigued by interest from UCLA, California and Texas A&M.;

“Before I do anything else, my goal is to be No. 1 in Southern California and the nation in the girls’ 18s,” she said.

In the girls’ 18 doubles, Serena Fermin of Troy High and Taylynn Snyder of Coto de Caza won the title with a 6-4, 7-6 win over Colby Comstock and Nicole LaBrucherie of Peninsula.

In the boys’ 14 final, Lee Singer of Laguna Niguel lost to Samuel Tadevosian of Glendale, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2. In a boys’ 16 semifinal, Jeffrey Das of Troy High was beaten by top-seeded Doug Stewart of Malibu, 6-3, 6-1. Stewart went on to win the title.

In the girls’ 16 singles semifinals, Elizabeth Exon of Woodbridge lost to eventual champion Lori Stern of Carpinteria, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

In the women’s open singles, Amanda Parson-Siegel of Santa Ana reached today’s final against Dina Birch McBride of Woodland Hills with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Jennifer Shorr of Montecito.