Santa Barbara Wins Tennis Tournament

Blake Muller, Chris Ho and Elliott Markowitz had key victories for Santa Barbara as the second-seeded Dons defeated unseeded Los Gatos, 5-4, to win the championship match of the sixth annual Corona del Mar/National High School All-American boys’ tennis tournament Saturday at Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach.

Muller, a senior who will play at Stanford next season, rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat Los Gatos’ top player, Brian Brogan, 8-6, and teamed with Grant Robertson to win, 8-6, in doubles.

Santa Barbara led, 2-1, after the doubles portion, but Los Gatos won at No. 2 and No. 3 singles to tie the match at 3-3.

Ho, a Southern Section doubles semifinalist with Robertson last season, broke the deadlock with an 8-4 win at No. 4 singles. After Los Gatos won at No. 5, sophomore Markowitz won, 6-3, at No. 6 singles to give the Dons the title in their first appearance in the 16-team tournament.

Santa Barbara, ranked No. 2 in the Southern Section Division I coaches’ poll, advanced to the final with a 6-3 victory over Corona del Mar in the semifinals.

Muller defeated the Sea Kings’ top player, Wesley Miller, 8-5, and Ho beat Matt Chou, 8-4, in that match. Ho won seven of eight matches he played in the two-day tournament.

Corona del Mar, tournament champion the last three seasons, recovered from a 4-2 deficit after singles to win all three doubles matches and beat Irvine Woodbridge, 5-4, for third place.

Harvard-Westlake finished fifth for the third time in four appearances in the tournament after a 7-2 victory over Los Angeles Brentwood.

-- Lauren Peterson

Football

Jeff Kearin, a former Loyola High player and assistant coach and the former head coach at Cal State Northridge, has been hired as the football coach at Loyola, succeeding Steve Grady, who resigned March 1 after guiding the Cubs for 29 seasons.

Kearin, 44, is a 1978 graduate of Loyola who served as an assistant coach under Grady for 11 years. He posted a record of 12-20 in three seasons at Cal State Northridge from 1999 to 2001.

Kearin coached at Phoenix (Ariz.) Brophy College Prep the past two years. He went 7-4 in 2003 and guided the Broncos to an 11-2 record and the semifinals of the Arizona state 5-A Division playoffs last season.

“I’m as excited as I can be,” he said. “Loyola is so inbred in me. I go way back there, so when I say it’s a dream come true, I really mean it.”