Muller Satisfied With Start

Santa Barbara junior Blake Muller was a reluctant spectator at the Ojai Valley tennis tournament last year. A stress fracture in his back prevented him from playing in the tournament, as well as most of the Southern Section season.

Muller could only watch as his brother Chase, now a redshirt freshman at USC, competed in the California Interscholastic Federation boys’ singles division at Ojai.

“It was tough,” said Muller, the No. 2-seeded player in the CIF boys’ singles division this year. “It took some time today, but I played pretty well.”

Muller, who has lost only one set all season, won both his matches on Thursday, defeating Mark Perez of Sun Valley Poly, 6-3, 6-0, in the first round, and Whitney Reed of Rolling Hills Estate Peninsula, 6-1, 6-2, in the second.

He will face Greg Sturman of Fullerton Sunny Hills in third-round play at 9:30 a.m. today.

Palm Desert’s Cale Planck had to battle to beat Jordan Combs of Clovis, 7-5, 7-6 (4), in the first round, but picked up momentum in his second-round match to defeat Diamond Bar’s Chris Chien, 6-0, 6-2.

Before that match, Diamond Bar Coach Dave Hamel told Chien that he wouldn’t have much luck going toe-to-toe with Planck from the baseline. However, Hamel’s advice was not heeded by Chien, who managed to match Planck’s ground stroke velocity but failed to take the net, leading to a number of forehand winners at his expense.

Planck plays Sean Tan of Lakewood in a third-round match at 9:30 a.m. today.

Kaes Van’t Hof of Santa Ana Mater Dei and Jonathan Sanchez of Anaheim Servite didn’t face each other during their teams’ Serra League match earlier this month because both were playing at the Easter Bowl tournament in Palm Springs.

On Thursday, the two Orange County standouts kicked off their Ojai experiences on adjacent courts.

Van’t Hof, the top-seeded player in the CIF boys’ singles division, was in control throughout his two matches. Sanchez, however, started a little shaky from the baseline but won a first-set tiebreaker, boosting his confidence for the afternoon. He lost a combined five games in his final three sets.

The two could meet in the semifinals on Saturday.

Celia Durkin of Woodland Hills, the top-seeded player in the girls’ 18 division, withdrew on Wednesday night because of a pulled muscle in her back.