Burroughs tennis no-show mars CIF tennis individuals

There was some controversy involving one the local boys’ tennis entries in Thursday’s CIF Southern Section Individual Tournament at the University of Redlands.

The No. 1 doubles team from Burroughs High, senior Michael Whelan and junior Calvin Fox, were supposed to arrive at the venue at 10 a.m. to begin their competition. But the duo was a no-show.

Burroughs Coach Roy Bernhardt said the pair had to default after Whelan wasn’t able to attend because of a function at the school.

“It was pretty disappointing,” Bernhardt said. “With Michael being a senior, he had to be back at the school for graduation practice and I guess the principal said he had to be at the practice. I think they could have played two or three rounds and still got back to school in time.

“And, of course, both of my alternates are seniors, so they couldn’t take their place.”

The Indians duo defaulting also angered Burbank Coach Loi Phan, whose doubles team, seniors Keon Park and Clayton Park, were the No. 2 seed from the league. Phan said what incensed him the most is from what he understood; Burroughs didn’t give the CIF any advance notice that Whelan and Fox were not going to show up.

“I talked to a few CIF officials and they were upset that they didn’t give them any notice,” Phan said. “They were telling me someone from the league should have called in, and I told them ‘it’s not me.’ It just looks bad for our league.

“What’s bad is that if they would have called in and told someone that the doubles team wasn’t going to show up, maybe my team could have moved up to the top seed from our league and they would have had an easier time. The Burroughs team had a bye in the first round.”

Nonetheless, Pauff and Park were able to advance to the third round of the competition.

In the first round, the Bulldogs defeated Upland’s Sumit Patel and Caleb Kulaska, 6-1, 6-2. The duo was an alternate and fill-in for the No. 1 doubles team from Upland, the Baseline League champion, which withdrew.

The Bulldogs continued to roll in the second round, getting by Sierra League champions from Ayala, High Nick Pangfoubanh and Wesley Lerg, 6-2, 6-2.

Unfortunately for the pair, it lost in the third round to Palm Desert’s No. 1 duo of Cameron McDonald and Brad Cummins, 6-0, 6-2.

“Those Palm Desert guys were just way too fast and were just toying with my guys,” Phan said. “We were either going to have to take some chances or just lob the ball because they were too good.

“I’m proud of the run we made. These guys were both seniors and always just missed reaching the individual tournament until this year. It was nice that they were able to get in and make a little run.”

Burroughs did have single player Sawyer Patterson, a sophomore, do well. Patterson, the Pacific League champion, advanced to the third round.

Patterson opened the tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 win against David Gonzalez of Keiser and then defeated Eric West of Shadow Hills, 6-1, 6-1. Patterson was then defeated by Victor Brown of Ayala, 6-2, 6-2.

“Just being a sophomore, it was a good experience for Sawyer,” Bernhardt said.