Hoover Claims First Championship

Dylan Kim swept his three sets at No. 1 singles to lead Glendale Hoover High to its first Southern Section boys’ tennis title with an 11-7 victory over Palos Verdes Peninsula in the Division I final Wednesday afternoon at The Claremont Club.

It was Hoover’s first section title in any sport since 1975 when the Tornadoes defeated Lakewood, 2-1, in baseball. Hoover’s only other appearance in a boys’ tennis final was in 1931, two years after the school opened, when it lost to Hollywood.

“This was huge for our kids,” Hoover Coach Lynn Santamaria said. “Playing on a neutral court helped because we lost to this same team in the [quarterfinals] last year at their place.”

Kim defeated Peninsula’s top player, Rylan Rizza, 7-5, in a key match between highly ranked juniors.

Second-seeded Hoover (24-1) won four doubles sets, three by the No. 2 team of Hakop Tadevosian and Eddie Choi, against a stacked Peninsula lineup.

The fourth-seeded Panthers (17-8) reached a final for the seventh time in the last 11 years.

Irvine University 11, Fullerton Troy 7--In a battle between the top two seeded teams, No. 1 University (24-2-1) won seven of nine singles sets to capture its third consecutive Division II title.

Aaron Yovan swept at No. 1 singles, including a 7-5 victory over Jeffrey Das, the top singles player for Troy (26-2). Seniors Anson Hsu and Jeff Lawrence swept at No. 1 doubles for University.

Westlake Village Westlake 10, Irvine Woodbridge 8--The top-seeded Warriors (24-0) won five singles and five doubles sets to capture the Division III title, their second section title in three years. Aaron Bert and Alex Sundling each won two of their three singles sets for Westlake, which improved to 65-1 in match play over the last three seasons.

Brett Van Linge swept at No. 1 singles for second-seeded Woodbridge (19-6), which was playing in its third section final in four years.

Palm Desert 10, Irvine Northwood 8--Freshman Cale Plank lost just four games in three singles sets and Jordan Colman also swept for second-seeded Palm Desert (23-1), which won the Division IV title. Ryan Aarges and Andy Moody swept at No. 1 doubles for fourth-seeded Northwood (17-7), which won seven doubles sets.