Boys tennis: CdM falls to Uni

Joseph Boo

IRVINE - It’s only one out of many Pacific Coast League regular

season matches, but University High’s 12-6 victory over visiting Corona

del Mar Tuesday felt seismic.

Upstart Uni, ranked No. 1 in Division II, soundly beat national power

CdM, the defending CIF Southern Section Division I champion and at times

a contentious rival with the Trojans. The Sea Kings (12-4, 3-1 in league)

are currently No. 3 in Division I.

The Trojans won with team depth, which was on full display Tuesday. While

CdM’s No. 1 singles player Brian Morton and its No. 1 doubles team of

Peter Kulmaticki and Robert Kennedy swept, Uni (8-0, 4-0) got all its

points against the Sea Kings’ No. 2 and 3 spots.

Morton started his match by winning a long 6-2 set against Uni’s No. 1

player, Aaron Yovan. It was a tense battle peppered with differing line

calls. With the score at 3-2, line judges were added and Morton won three

games in a row.

He then won his second set, 6-4, and came back to win his third set in a

tiebreaker, 7-6 (6-4).

“Brian’s been playing well lately,” CdM Coach Tim Mang said.

But Uni won the other six singles set by a combined score of 36-6. CdM’s

No. 2 singles player Cameron Ball was hampered by a cast on his left

hand. He lost his three sets, 1-6, 4-6, 1-6.

“He jammed his thumb about a week and a half ago, so he’s not playing as

well as he did,” Mang said. “Santa Barbara (where Ball won three sets by

a combine score of 18-1 Saturday) is not as good as Uni. He could handle

those guys. But Uni is a much better team.”

The day’s biggest surprise came from CdM’s doubles pair of Michael Bean

and Randy Myers, who Mang considers his top doubles team in practice.

They dropped all three of their sets, two of them in tiebreakers. With

CdM down, 3-2 in the first rotation, Myers and Bean had five set points,

but lost in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (9-7).

“I put Bean and Myers in No. 3 so they can warm up against Uni’s No. 3,”

Mang said. “But it didn’t work out that way.”

“I was totally surprised about our doubles teams, and about Bean and

Myers. They didn’t play very well. Hopefully, they’ll pull out of it

soon.”

From the No. 1 spot, Kulmaticki and Kennedy almost picked up the slack

for the Sea Kings and provided half of CdM’s points. They comfortably won

their three sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0.

The two PCL and Orange County powers will meet again on April 12, at CdM.

The date was moved up from it’s original date so the match would not

conflict with the Easter Bowl Tournament.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

University 12, Corona del Mar 6

Singles - Morton (CdM) def. Yovan, 6-2; def. Mak, 6-4; def. Li, 7-6

(6-4); Ball (CdM) lost, 1-6, 4-6, 1-6; Everson (CdM) lost, 0-6, 0-6, 0-6.

Doubles - Kennedy-Kulmaticki (CdM) def. Lawrence-Hsu, 6-2, def.

Chen-Morgan, 6-4, def. Frank-Haier, 6-0; Stockwell-Warsaw (CdM) lost,

2-6, 1-6, 0-6; Bean-Myers (CdM) lost, 5-7, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (7-9).