Harvard-Westlake Double-Teamed

Coach Chris Simpson of Harvard-Westlake High knew his team had to dominate in doubles to have a chance to beat top-seeded Corona Del Mar in Thursday’s Southern Section Division V semifinal match in Newport Beach.

So Simpson moved two of his best singles players to doubles and hoped No. 1 player Jesse Ferlianto could win at least two of three sets against the Sea Kings’ highly ranked lineup.

But the fourth-seeded Wolverines won only five of nine doubles sets and lost, 11-7, in a rematch of last year’s Division I semifinals, which Harvard-Westlake won on games, 87-81.

Ferlianto did his part, reversing a tiebreaker loss last year to Brian Morton to give Harvard-Westlake a 4-2 lead after the first rotation of round-robin play.

After losing, 6-3, to No. 2 player Cameron Ball, Ferlianto recovered to beat Garrett Snyder, 7-5. But by that time, the undefeated Sea Kings had clinched their 22nd victory.

“Morton likes to serve and volley, so the points were over fairly quickly against him,” Ferlianto said. “Cameron made me rally a lot more and he served huge. My teammates were counting on me to play my best [Thursday], so I felt a little more pressure than usual. But I like this kind of pressure.”

Chris Shepherd and Steven Gersh won two of three sets at No. 1 doubles for Harvard-Westlake (16-5).