CdM boys’ tennis doubles tandem finishes as CIF Individuals runner-up
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CLAREMONT — Jack Barnes had quite a high school tennis career at Corona del Mar High.
But if you told the senior that he would be in the title match of the CIF Southern Section Individuals doubles tournament?
“I probably wouldn’t have believed you,” Barnes said.
The dream turned into reality on Thursday at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center. Barnes and freshman partner Quynh Tran, playing some inspired tennis, made it all the way to the title match.
Top-seeded Palos Verdes Peninsula seniors Colin Bringas and Eddie Feuer were just a bit too tough there. Bringas and Feuer backed up their Ojai Tournament title they won last month, earning a 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) title over Barnes and Tran for the CIF Individuals championship.
Barnes and Tran, who played doubles with each other for much of the season, became the first CdM doubles team to advance to a CIF Individuals final since Niels Hoffmann and Jack Cross in 2022.
Barnes and Tran adjusted after quickly losing the first set. There were four straight breaks of serve starting midway through the second set, the final one when Feuer was broken serving for the match at 5-4.
The set would go to a tiebreaker, where CdM took a 5-3 lead before Peninsula won the final four points to avoid a third set and win the title.
“We just needed a little bit of time to settle in,” Barnes said. “In the first set, we got rolled there 6-1, but in the second set we started to feel it out, play more tactical, make some more returns and clean up our serve games.”
Tran, who comes from a tennis family, had a standout freshman year and will be back. For Barnes, it was the end of a sterling career. He plans to play club tennis at Ole Miss next year.
“Jack got better and better as the year went on,” CdM coach Jamie Gresh said. “He’s the definition of a great high school doubles player, and he’s won a lot of sets for us at CdM. It’s exactly what you want to see out of the development of the guys … He leaves a good legacy of how CdM doubles should be played. Jack has maximized his talent potential, and he’s a great kid and super-coachable. He’ll be missed.”
The CdM duo rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Marina seniors Alejandro Hill and David Tran in the CIF Individuals semifinals earlier Thursday. The Sea Kings won 10 of the last 11 games, avenging a loss to the Vikings duo in the Sunset League championship match.
Barnes and Quynh Tran also upset No. 2-seeded DJ Buchfeller and Everett Somerville of Tustin, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals. That was the team that Barnes and partner Blake Fraley had lost to in Ojai.
From a team perspective, Barnes and Quynh Tran helped CdM make the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals and the CIF/USTA SoCal Regional Final.
“It was a great season with Quynh,” Barnes said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Honestly, it was the best senior season for me.”
For David Tran, who had won the CIF Individuals doubles title with partner Trevor Nguyen as a sophomore, Thursday was the end of a highlight-filled career at Marina. He advanced to the semifinals or finals of both Ojai and the CIF Individuals each of the last three years; Tran and Hill were Ojai semifinalists this year.
“He’s so well-liked by not just the guys on varsity, but on JV, and at our school in general,” Marina coach Chuck Kingman said. “He’s really bonded with everybody and assumed that role on our team, the leader on the team, kind of the mentor to a lot of the younger players.”
CdM senior Ivan Pflueger was the other local player to advance to Claremont. Pfleuger lost to Kamden Harden of Long Beach Poly in the CIF Individuals round of 16, with the Jackrabbits freshman claiming a 6-4, 6-7, 10-8 victory in a third set match tiebreaker.
Pfleuger is headed to UC San Diego, the same school that Hill will be attending to study engineering.
