La Cañada’s Morgan rallies for Rio Hondo League singles title
TEMPLE CITY — Just a freshman, Ryan Morgan proved he could handle the toughest of moments and turn it into inspiration.
That’s what the La Cañada High boys’ tennis player accomplished Thursday during the final two rounds of the Rio Hondo League Tournament.
As the second seed, Morgan overcame an early deficit and rallied splendidly to register a5-7, 6-1, 10-7 win against No. 1 Leo Wang of San Marino in the championship match at Live Oak Park.
Morgan tallied the last three points in the super-tiebreaker to become the first Spartans’ boys’ player to win a singles league crown this century.
“You have to learn how to get through those rough spots and it was a close first set,” said Morgan, who earlier recorded a 6-0, 6-1 win against No. 2 Desmond Chen of South Pasadena and will participate in the CIF Southern Section Individual Tournament on May 24. “I came back in the second set and I think I had a lot of confidence going into the tiebreaker.
“I maintained my composure and I did a lot of good things. When it got to 7-7, I knew what needed to be done. I just had to finish it out and it’s great to be able to win league.”
La Cañada coach Will Moravec said Morgan didn’t back down from the challenge.
“Ryan has been involved in plenty of big moments before, so you could see how hungry he was to beat a very good player like Leo,” Moravec said. “Ryan knew what he needed to do and he was confident throughout the last set. I’m just very happy for him right now to do something that hasn’t been done in quite a long time.”
Wang advanced to the final following a 6-3, 6-0 victory versus No. 4 JP McKenzie of La Cañada.
In doubles, No. 7 Ian and Nick Lee of La Cañada fell, 6-2, 6-0, to No. 1 John Carter and Andrew Wong in the doubles championship. The Lees rallied for a 0-6, 7-5, 10-6 semifinal victory against No. 6 Auberon Lai and Scott Chen of San Marino.
The Lees, who trailed, 4-1, in the second set in their semifinal tilt, also qualified for the individual tournament after reaching the finals.
“We just had to keep on fighting,” Nick Lee said. “We got into the finals and it was a little difficult to refocus. We gave it a good shot.”
Said Ian Lee: “I thought we played pretty decent overall in the two matches. It’s a great learning experience and we’ll go from here.”
McKenzie took on Chen in the third-place singles match. Chen built a 5-2 lead in the first set before McKenzie retired because of an injury.
No. 5 Tyler Tseng and Alex Ko of San Marino defeated Lai and Chen, 6-4, 6-4, in the third-place doubles contest.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
