Absences Clear Way for O.C. Sweep

There were several noticeable absences at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center for Saturday’s preliminary rounds of the Southern Section individual tennis regionals.

Jeff Kazarian and Tiege Sullivan of Palos Verdes Peninsula, the doubles champions from the Ojai tournament, and teammate Rylan Rizza, who probably would have been seeded second in singles, decided to sit out the high school tournament.

Sullivan stepped down because of an injury to Kazarian, and Rizza cited a conflict with an upcoming national tournament.

Orange County players took advantage of the absences, winning all four qualifying spots in singles, and two in doubles. The qualifiers will play in Friday’s round of 16 at the Seacliff Tennis Club in Huntington Beach.

“That was a bit of a surprise that they weren’t playing,” said Corona del Mar junior Cameron Ball, who easily advanced, dropping only two games in his two matches. “Having Rizza and Sullivan here would make it a lot tougher.”

Top-seeded Aaron Yovan of University, a singles finalist at Ojai, was disappointed in Rizza’s decision.

“The quality of tennis is still there,” Yovan said. “But I still wish he was playing.”

Yovan advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Tristan Edwards of Rancho Cucamonga and a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Chase Ora of Dana Hills.

In doubles, Michael O’Bradovitch and Jason Wood, the fourth-seeded team from Los Alamitos, thought the road was still plenty tough, even without Kazarian and Sullivan.

O’Bradovitch and Wood had to face Peter Kulmaticki and Michael Bean of Corona del Mar in their third-round match. When the teams met earlier this season, Kulmaticki and Bean, the Pacific Coast League’s second-place team, won, 7-5.

Saturday, O’Bradovitch and Wood, behind some strong net play and outrageous shots, came out on top, 6-4, 6-4. Down a break at 4-3 in the second set, they broke back to tie the set at 4-4. The pair lost only one point the rest of the way.

Troy’s Jeff Das qualified for the main draw for the first time with a grueling 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 victory over Brent Besson of Santa Monica. Das, who had easily beaten Besson twice before, was surprised at Besson’s perseverance.

“I didn’t expect it to be that tough,” Das said. “I couldn’t get his serve back, so I just tried to hold my own.”

Los Alamitos got its second qualifier when John Mano advanced in singles, after Rodrigo Silveira of Buena Park had to default because of cramps, trailing 7-5, 3-0.

Top-seeded Brian Morton and Garrett Snyder of Corona del Mar also advanced in doubles, dropping only one game in two sets.