Spartans maintain steady footing against Tigers

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — Only one team had the depth to endure playing down a man Thursday when the La Cañada High boys’ tennis team hosted South Pasadena.

The Spartans pulled out a commanding Rio Hondo League victory, 15-3, despite playing two sets without their No. 3 singles player, with sweeps from Andrew Danuns (6-0, 6-3, 6-3) in No. 2 singles and Harrison Zuk and Leeho Lim in No. 2 doubles, 6-2, 6-4, 7-5.

The win was an indication that La Cañada is right on track of meeting its goal of a top-two finish in the Rio Hondo League.

“You have your league rivals and this was one of them,” La Cañada Coach Will Moravec said. “You have to get out of league to play CIF and this is one of our hurdles to qualify. We are sitting good, we are on pace [to take second in league].”

South Pasadena Coach Jim Asher knew the Tigers had a tall task against a skillful Spartans squad.

“We did OK, but they just came out on top,” Asher said. “They have good combinations and some good singles players. They’re going to be hard for us to beat, but we gave them our best shot.”

Moravec flashed La Cañada’s depth as he started the day without two of his starters — Ryan Lee in No. 3 singles and David Oh in doubles. Lee returned and picked up a win, 6-3, after being subbed in for Josh Kim.

“I want to make sure we are playing our best tennis at the end of the season,” Moravec said of his substitutions. “I don’t want anyone too tired or too stressed out early in the season.”

The Spartans got two sets from Kim (6-1, 6-0), Arthur Song (6-1, 6-1), Michael Choi and Tyler Jones (6-3, 6-3) and Joe Song and Liwon Lim (6-4, 6-4).

Leeho Lim said La Cañada is right where it needs to be after falling to San Marino, 12-6, on March 23.

“South Pas is a pretty good team and we played well,” Leeho Lim said. “The San Marino match didn’t go too well and this boosted our morale.”

South Pasadena’s wins from came from Phillip Kim and Jason Wang, 6-3, Scott Richard and Krishna Mocherla, 6-1, and Shyam Senthilkumar, 6-1.

andrew.shortall@latimes.com