Powerhouses Get Toppled Early

Despite plenty of ifs, ands and buts, the early-season losses suffered by some of the top boys’ tennis teams in Southern California are notable.

Irvine University (2-1), highly regarded by nearly everyone and No. 1 in The Times’ preseason rankings, lost, 10-8, to unranked Palos Verdes Peninsula. The Trojans were without two of their top singles players, Henry Mak and Jack Li.

Nonetheless, University Coach John Kessler gave a tip of his cap to the Panthers and their top player, Virginia-bound senior Rylan Rizza.

“What an athlete,” Kessler said of Rizza. “I was really impressed. There’s no doubt Peninsula wanted that match more than we did, and they had enough talent to do it.”

University, the Southern Section Division II champion the past two years, has plenty of talent too.

The trick will be getting its top seven players--Aaron Yovan, Mak, Li, Jeff Lawrence, Anson Hsu, Michael Haier and Matt Chou--all out on the same day, what with conflicts with academic classes, junior tournaments and personal training schedules.

“When all seven are there, we’re a great team,” Kessler said. “But that’s when they’re all there.”

Anaheim Servite (3-1), No. 2 in preseason rankings, fell to unranked Placentia El Dorado. The Friars were without top singles player Patrick Buchanan and top doubles player Tyrone Wang.

A couple of matches involving Corona del Mar (5-0) demonstrate how competitive the top teams are, particularly those in Orange County.

The Sea Kings edged Los Alamitos (1-1), No. 4 in the preseason rankings, by a 10-8 margin. They were also tested by No. 10 Fullerton Troy before prevailing on games, 72-60. The Warriors (6-1) were without their No. 2 doubles team of Eugene Lee and Neil Patel because Lee was taking a college entrance exam.

Top of the tournament: Malibu High senior Doug Stewart, the defending Southern Section singles champion, defeated Peninsula’s Rizza, 6-3, 7-5, in Sunday’s boys’ 18 title match of the 21st South Bay Junior tournament at Jack Kramer Tennis Club in Rolling Hills Estates.

University’s Li was awarded third place when Yevgeny Supeko of Ojai retired because of an injury trailing, 1-0, in the first set, and Corona del Mar’s Cameron Ball defeated Troy’s Jeffrey Das, 6-2, 6-1, in the back-draw final.

Best of the rest: The opening rounds of the inaugural CIF/Wilson/SCTA First Serve Boys’ Team Tennis Competition were completed Saturday at Orange Coast College and Long Beach Recreation Park.

The two-weekend tournament has individual players going head to-head in singles and doubles rather than using the round-robin format typical of high school matches.

Competition includes teams from 20 schools, with squads made up strictly of players not among the top 150 in Southern California Tennis Assn. age-group rankings.

Valencia and Bosco Tech are each 2-0 in the event and will play one another in a final match in Long Beach on March 23.

The team with the best record will be declared the site winner under the round-robin format.

Diamond Bar will play Garden Grove Bolsa Grande and Covina Charter Oak will face Riverside King in semifinals on March 23 at Orange Coast, where pool play was used. The final match is scheduled for 3 p.m. the same day.

“It’s kind of geared to the kids who wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to the SCTA,” said Darren Potkey, assistant manager of the SCTA chapter of High Performance, the U.S. Tennis Assn.’s player development program.

All participants will receive an SCTA membership.