Tennis: National rankings at stake

Richard Dunn

Guarantees in life are rare, but Corona del Mar High boys tennis

coach Tim Mang, the mastermind and founder of the CdM-Pavilions national

team tournaments, is almost willing to go that far in terms of

competition.

“Every team will get four matches against four good teams, and that

makes them all happy, especially the schools that have to drive,” Mang

said of the 16-team field in the inaugural girls CdM-Pavilions

All-American Classic at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club in Newport

Beach.

In the double-elimination invitational, teams will play six singles

and three doubles sets, with each worth one point (similar to the college

format).

And, like the boys national invitational in March, the first round

Friday morning, played at five clubs in the Newport Beach area, should be

interesting.

Mang seeded Peninsula first, because the Panthers are the defending

national champions, according to USA Today. But No. 2-seeded Torrey Pines

of Del Mar could easily be the top-seeded team.

“That was a coin toss,” Mang said of selection process to determine

the tournament’s top seed.

“(The coaches) know that the top teams in the tournament are playing

for national rankings, as well. The top four teams will probably be

ranked in the top 25 in the nation (by year’s end), and maybe more. It

depends on how close some of these matches are.”

In the boys tournament, eventually won by Peninsula, two of the top

four seeded teams were knocked out in the first round, creating an

opening-day frenzy.

“The boys first round was incredible,” said Mang, referring to

Bakersfield Centennial’s 5-4 win over third-seeded Cherry Creek of

Englewood, Colo., and Brentwood’s 9-0 victory over fourth-seeded Dr.

Michael Krop of Miami, Fla.

Following Peninsula and Torrey Pines, host Corona del Mar is seeded

third, while Menlo School of Atherton, with standout Ashley Lipton, is

seeded fourth.

Mang said some of the coaches are concerned about other teams stacking

their lineups by moving around their top players. But Mang said he has

studied all of the players’ rankings and will ensure that each plays

according to their proper position.

“We’re making sure everybody is playing by their rankings. That’s why

it’s going to be so good,” Mang said.

The tournament, which continues with second-round matches Friday

afternoon and semifinals and finals on Saturday, will include numerous

players ranked among the top five in the Southern and Northern California

junior divisions.

Sophomore sensation Anne Yelsey of Corona del Mar, Tracy Lin of

Canyon, Luana Magnani of San Marino, Iris Ichim of Beverly Hills, Lauren

Perl of Torrey Pines and Lipton could form a team and beat most colleges.

“I know the rankings in Northern California, but Southern California

has more depth and more competition,” Mang said. “Northern California is

a little weaker, but, at the same time, we’re playing these teams that

have the top Northern California players. We’ve got a couple of highly

ranked Southern California girls, but we’re playing a lot of highly

ranked Northern California girls.”

The event is played under the auspices of the National High School

Tennis All-American Foundation, which Mang started in 1998. It hosted

seven teams from outside California in the inaugural boys tournament.

Schools in warm-weather states, aside from California, play the girls

team tennis season in the spring, making it difficult to lure top teams

from Florida, Texas, Arizona and Georgia.

“We could have invited teams from other states, but those teams are

weaker than California teams,” said Mang, who added that he’s working on

teams from Texas, North Carolina, Nevada and Oregon to play in 2001. “It

hurts with Florida not coming.”

Menlo, which opens against Canyon, could surprise the likes of

Peninsula and other Southern California schools.

Led by Lipton, who began the year ranked 26th in the nation in the

girls 14s and No. 2 in Northern California, Menlo finished 26-0 last

season and captured its ninth consecutive Girls Private School League

title.

Menlo also won its third straight CIF Central Coast Section

championship and its second CIF-USTA Northern California crown in a row.

In March, Coach Bill Shine’s Menlo boys team advanced to the finals of

the CdM-Pavilions All-American Classic and lost to Peninsula.

The championship match is slated for Saturday at 6 p.m. at the BBC

Racquet Club. The semifinals are Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.

Torrey Pines, the 10-time defending CIF San Diego Section champion,

opens against Newport Harbor.

“I think (the tournament) is a great idea,” Newport Harbor Coach

Fletcher Olson said. “It would have been great last year for us. This

year, we have a rebuilding team, but the girls have turned out to be real

competitive.”

There’s that word again. Competitive.

In the CHOC/Padrinos Tennis Classic to benefit Children’s Hospital of

Orange County, several local professionals and amateurs secured titles

Sunday at the Racquet Club of Irvine, the host site with over 620 entries

and 1,030 players for the two-weekend tournament.

In the men’s open singles final, former USC star Adam Peterson

defeated Brett Hansen-Dent (Newport Harbor High) by default.

In the men’s open doubles final, Newport Beach Tennis Club pros Scott

Davis (Corona del Mar) and Brian MacPhie beat Carsten Hoffman and Art

Hernandez, both of the Palisades Tennis Club, 6-4, 6-2.

In the women’s open singles final, former touring pro Debbie Graham,

who retired this year from the challenger circuit, defeated Ann Mall,

6-1, 4-1 (ret.).

Paul Cross and John Cross, both of Palisades, won the men’s 6.0

doubles title, while Jim Buehring of Newport Beach was part of the men’s

championship 5.5 doubles team.

In an all-Newport Beach Tennis Club final, Robert Nichols and Sherrell

Sutherland defeated Ron Hextell and Suzie Conover in mixed 5.0 doubles.

Attendance results of the 2000 U.S. Open are staggering.

Among the record-breaking numbers established at this year’s Open in

New York were the 606,017 for the two-week event, making it the single

largest-attended annual sporting event in the world and breaking last

year’s Open record of 584,490.

The single-day attendance record was set on Labor Day Saturday as

54,992 attended the day and night sessions.