A Trying Semester at University

University Coach Jeff Hammond would have welcomed a week like this last year. Today, the Trojans host Palos Verdes Peninsula, the top-ranked team in Southern Section Division I. Tuesday, they travel to Pacific Coast League rival Corona del Mar (7-0), ranked No. 1 in Division V and Orange County.

But this year is nothing like last year, when the first-year coach guided University to 20 consecutive victories and the Division II title. This year has been a constant struggle.

Before the season, Hammond learned he would be without his No. 2 singles player, Henry Mak, who has a rare blood infection. He also discovered Jack Li, his No. 3 player, might not be playing because of a conflict with his studies.

In January, Hammond convinced Li to play.

“I told him he would only have to play the top matches,” Hammond said.

But Mak’s illness wasn’t as easily solved. Mak, ranked sixth nationally last year in the boys’ 16s, hasn’t played a match since last summer and he might miss the entire season.

So where does that leave University this week?

“The bottom line is we need six points out of Aaron [Yovan] and Jack in both matches and a sweep from our No. 1 doubles, Anson Hsu and Edwin Chen,” Hammond said. “I don’t like to put that much pressure on our No. 1 and No. 2 guys, but we don’t have a choice.”

Hammond is asking a lot of Yovan and Li, who will face Peninsula’s Rylan Rizza and Jeff Kazarian today and Corona del Mar’s Brian Morton, Cameron Ball and Garrett Snyder Tuesday. All five are ranked among the top 20 in Southern California in their age groups.

Hammond never expected his margin for error to be this small.

“We really miss Henry, no question,” he said. “I didn’t think we’d miss him this much.”

University (8-2), ranked fourth in Orange County, is faced with these brutal back-to-back matches because an earlier match with Peninsula was rained out.

“I gave [Peninsula Coach] Tom Cox two options and he picked this one,” Hammond said. “I actually feel the match with Peninsula tunes us up for Corona del Mar.”

Hammond expects Corona del Mar to be finely tuned for University, which defeated the Sea Kings handily in both matches last year.

“They’re going to be ticked,” he said. “But I feel we’ve got absolutely nothing to lose. I’d feel a lot more pressure if we came in as the No. 1 team in the county.”

EASTER BOWL CHANGES

With the U.S. Tennis Assn. turning the Easter Bowl into a super national, many changes are in order for the Palm Springs tournament, which runs April 12-19:

* The draw has been doubled from 64 to 128.

* The event has been shortened from nine days to eight.

* Four more sites have been added to accommodate the increase in matches.

* The selection process has been turned over to the USTA.

None of the changes make tournament director and founder Seena Hamilton very happy. But Hamilton said she had no choice.

“The USTA gave me 24 hours to make a decision on becoming a super national,” Hamilton said. “They took my tournament away.”

Hamilton is most upset with the selection process, which she believes is inequitable and cumbersome.

“There is no relationship with the top kids in each section and the national rankings,” Hamilton said. “It used to be, you knew if you got into the Easter Bowl, you were good. Now, we’ve got kids ranked 770 in the nation getting in.”

How could that happen? One way is through national open tournaments, which are used as qualifiers for super nationals such as the Easter Bowl. Because many of the top-ranked players had already qualified for Easter Bowl, the draws at open tournaments weren’t very deep. One of the fields for an open event in Hawaii had only 21 players in it. Those finishing in the top six qualified for the Easter Bowl.

“Those who could afford to go to Hawaii had a pretty good chance of qualifying,” said John Lansville, manager of player development for the Southern California Tennis Assn. “The well-to-do kids are helped through this system.”

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

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BOYS’ TENNIS TOP 10

Orange County Sportswriters’ Poll

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Pos. School League Rec 1. Corona del Mar Pacific Coast 8-0 2. Los Alamitos Sunset 5-2 3. Troy Freeway 9-0 4. University Pacific Coast 8-2 5. Woodbridge Sea View 7-3 6. Servite Serra 9-0 7. Dana Hills South Coast 4-3 8. Canyon Century 7-3 9. Capistrano Valley South Coast 4-0 10. Sunny Hills Freeway 5-3

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Others: Irvine (8-1), Los Amigos (11-0), Mater Dei (9-1), Esperanza (8-1), El Dorado (5-3).