Sheng Heads Regional Advance

CARPINTERIA — Phil Sheng of Thousand Oaks High, Alex Yaftali of Westlake and Quinn Borchard of Rio Mesa advanced to the round of 16 at the Southern Section individual tennis tournament Saturday at Cate High.

Seeded No. 1 in the 32-player Northern Division bracket of the 128-player tournament, Sheng got a bye in the first round, then beat Peter Leeb of Windward, 6-0, 6-0, in the second round.

A sophomore, Sheng is ranked No. 2 in Southern California in the boys’ 18-and-under division and plays on the United States junior national team. He needed every bit of his match experience to overcome a 5-2 deficit in the first set and beat Joey Edelberg of Oak Park, 7-5, 6-4, in the third round.

Yaftali beat Alfonso Bringham of Brentwood, 6-2, 6-0, then upset fourth-seeded Paul Warkentin of San Marcos, 7-5, 6-0.

“I could see that he was injured,” Yaftali said of Warkentin, who played despite painful back spasms. “So I tried to move him around a lot and not let him just bomb away. In the first set, I was tight and I wasn’t hitting through the ball, but then I started to relax.”

Yaftali, a junior, lost to the top-seeded player in the second round the previous two years.

“It feels good to finally get past the first day,” Yaftali said. “It all comes down to what kind of a draw you get.”

Junior Adam Zunder of Campbell Hall stretched third-seeded Matt Baer of San Marcos to the limit before falling, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4--the third consecutive year Zunder has exited the tournament in the third round.

“I had to adjust my serve out wide because he’s a lefty like me,” said Zunder. “In the second set, I stayed calm and let him make the mistakes. I also served a lot better.”

Zunder defeated Righetti’s Kyle Hardy, 6-2, 6-1 in the second round.

Borchard, seeded second, beat Peter Munzig of Thacher, 6-0, 6-1, in the second round, then defeated Dan Barger of Paso Robles, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, to advance.

In doubles, third-seeded Andrew Liew and Willie Mullin of Thousand Oaks advanced with a 6-7 (7-1), 6-4, 6-1 victory over Scott Bunker and Joe Diehl of San Luis Obispo, and a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Joey Ryan and Eric Hwang of Brentwood.

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Playoff Pairings

SOUTHERN SECTION / Tuesday Matchups

BASEBALL

Division I

* Arlington at Highland

* Thousand Oaks at Long Beach Wilson

Division II

* Santa Barbara at Hart

* Canyon at Damien

* Royal at Sunny Hills

Division III

* Calabasas at Norwalk

Division IV

* Westminster La Quinta at La Canada

* Nordhoff at Chaminade

* Paraclete at Anaheim Western

SOFTBALL

Division I

* Thousand Oaks vs. Quartz Hill/Glendora winner (suspended game, to be finished Monday)

* Crescenta Valley at Santa Ana Mater Dei

* Camarillo at Diamond Bar

* Highland at Canyon Springs

Division II

* La Serna at Saugus

* La Palma Kennedy at Hueneme

* California at Hart

Division III

* Calabasas at Placentia Valencia

* Newbury Park at Dos Pueblos

* Chaminade at San Marino

* La Salle at La Canada

* Lompoc at Harvard-Westlake

* Ridgecrest Burroughs at Notre Dame

VOLLEYBALL

Division I

* Royal at Corona del Mar

Division II

* Alemany at San Marcos