Servite Seeks Redemption After Sub-Par Postseason

It wasn’t supposed to end the way it did last season for the Servite High golf team.

There were supposed to be rings, trophies, banners and celebrations.

Instead there were hanging heads and silence.

The Friars were considered the best team in Southern California entering the Southern Section championships at Saticoy Country Club in Somis last May. With four regular-season victories over perennial power Santa Margarita and another in the postseason, the section title was Servite’s to lose.

And lose is what the Friars did.

They shot a season-worst 401 and finished fifth--failing to earn one of the four spots in the season-ending CIF-SCGA finals. To make matters worse, Serra League rival Santa Margarita won both the section and CIF-SCGA titles.

That disappointment has lingered for the Friars since, the bitterness eased only in knowing that five of that team’s players are returning this season. They enter the season ranked No. 1 in Orange County and are eager for a shot at redemption.

“It was pretty embarrassing,” said senior Nico Bollini, Servite’s No. 1 player and Southern Section individual champion. “To come out and play like that was not the way we wanted it to end.”

Bollini, who has signed with USC, leads the core group of seniors that enters its final year together. Ryan Carter, who won the Serra League title last year, Ryan Cole and R.J. Nones are also seniors. As sophomores in 1999, they finished second in the CIF-SCGA tournament.

With only one shot left at fulfilling the hopes they have fostered since freshman year, the players intend to take no prisoners.

“We want to win league, [the Southern Section] and state,” Cole said. “We want to prove that the way we capped the season last year was a fluke. That is definitely something we all talk about. Those have been our main goals since freshman year, but when the chips are down we have never proved that we can do it.”

Santa Margarita and Huntington Beach will offer the stiffest competition among county teams, but all indications are that Servite is the team to beat this year.

Aside from the four seniors, junior Jordan Nasser also returns for the Friars. Those five players were the top five on the team last year. The sixth spot, vacated by the graduation of Ryan Heidorn, will be filled by junior Zach Zehnder, senior Anthony Gaiten or sophomore Ryan McGovern.

Coach Tim Meagher said he likes what he has seen from the team in early-season practice rounds and hinted that not winning last year might work in their favor.

“I think these guys are a little more hungry this year,” Meagher said. “Not having success in the finals last year maybe made them more hungry. Obviously you always want to win when you have the chance, but if we had done everything last year we might not be as focused this year.”

The Friars took solace after Santa Margarita won the CIF-SCGA tournament with a record three-under-par 357, though they still would have relished an opportunity to be there.

“Even if we were there, we probably wouldn’t have beat them,” Bollini said. “But we really didn’t care who won. The only thing we cared about was that we weren’t there.”

Having defeated Santa Margarita so many times during the season may have played a role in Servite’s poor performance.

“We were definitely confident,” Cole said. “I don’t think we were overconfident--maybe a little lackadaisical. All year long we beat them but that one time, that’s something that really hurt.”

It also taught a lesson.

“We know that when we play our best, there isn’t a team out there that can beat us,” Cole said. “Losing last year got us upset with ourselves and got us fired up.”

What remains to be seen, however is if the Friars can rise to the challenge of lofty expectations in the senior year for the core group.

“This year I think we are the top guns,” Meagher said. ‘We really have to embrace that role and take it on aggressively.”

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Other teams to watch:

Santa Margarita--The Eagles’ junior varsity team can beat most teams, so it doesn’t matter that three players from the Southern Section and CIF-SCGA champions of last season are playing at Division I colleges this year. Taylor Wood, Andrew Price, Scott Manley and Dave Hawkins return from that team and Steve Bullock, who was solid last year at El Toro, has transferred in. Sophomore Steve Harward has had a good preseason and looks like he will crack the lineup. The Eagles have a loaded schedule that includes Servite three times, Florida power Lake Holland Prep, La Costa Canyon, Palm Desert, Atascadero, Westlake Village Westlake and Santa Barbara San Marcos, so don’t look for an undefeated season, just look for them to be there at the end.

Huntington Beach--Last year, Servite and Santa Margarita were the class of the county. This year, you have to include the Oilers. Senior Andy Anderson heads a deep squad that returns four players and will be infused with two impact players--Matt Fletcher and Joey Bennedetti. Fletcher, a senior, was No. 2 on the team as a sophomore but was academically ineligible last year. Bennedetti, a freshman, has made a name for himself on the local junior circuit.

San Clemente--Four players return for the Tritons, who finished in the top 10 at the Southern Section championships a year ago. All-South Coast League selection Casey Strohsahl leads the way a year after finishing in the top-10 at the individual regional championships. Justin Hales and Mike Nuno were the Nos. 5 and 6 on the team last year, but they posted the best Triton scores (79 and 77, respectively) at the section finals.

Aliso Niguel--Matt Schrieber, Joseph Kim and Andrew Wahlert make Wolverines a legitimate contender for the toughest league title in the county--the Sea View. Schrieber qualified for the U.S. Open Sectionals last year, Kim won two SCPGA tournaments over the summer and Wahlert is the team captain.

Sunny Hills--Irene Cho, arguably the top girl golfer in the county, plays on the boys’ team because Sunny Hills doesn’t have girls’ golf. Put her with 2000 Southern Section runner-up Mike Rim and the Lancers should contend for a berth in the Southern Section finals once again.

Orange Lutheran--A year ago, the Lancers barely missed advancing to the Southern Section finals and made a strong showing in their own tournament by staying close with top teams such as Huntington Beach, Brea Olinda and Newport Harbor. With top player Matt Amen returning, along with Paul Imondi and John Hong, look for Orange Lutheran to arrive as a force this season.