Sea Kings stay on the Ball

PATRICK LAVERTY

The high school tennis season is just about to get underway, but many

of the area’s top players have already been in action early this

year.

Among the standouts have been Corona del Mar High junior Carsten

Ball, who has already won two tournaments in Southern California.

Ball, 16, was the winner in the boys 18s at the Gene Jung

tournament in Whittier two weeks ago and brought home the boys 18s

title at the San Diego Junior Singles tournament in January.

“I’ve been working hard,” Ball said. “I’m playing pretty well.”

Ball, who also lost in the quarterfinals of the 60th annual

Fullerton tournament, is headed to Texas next weekend for a national

event and has the South Bay tournament in Long Beach on Feb. 28 on

his schedule.

His calendar should remain busy throughout the spring and summer

as he attempts to balance the requirements of the tournament circuit

and his devotion to the team at Corona del Mar.

“He’s getting so good, there are going to be conflicts between the

national tournaments and CIF [Southern Section] play,” Sea Kings

Coach Tim Mang said.

Ball said his current rankings are No. 1 in the Southern

California Tennis Association in the boys 16s and No. 2 in the boys

18s. He also said he holds a No. 14 ranking in the national boys 16s.

But he’ll also be counted on when the Sea Kings attempt to defend

their CIF Southern Section Division I team title.

For the second straight year, Ball will miss the Ojai tournament

that Corona del Mar competes in because he will be playing a national

tournament the same weekend. But Mang is hopeful the conflicts won’t

cause a problem when the final rounds of CIF play roll around.

“We’ve just got to try to make the best out of it,” Ball said.

“Coach Mang is tremendous at that. He’s very understanding.”

That attitude has helped Mang keep some of the top junior tennis

players on the courts at CdM. In other areas of Southern California,

many top players chose to forego high school tennis.

“The advantage we have at our high school is we play all the best

teams, all the best players,” Mang said.

And Ball is just another in a long line of them at Corona del Mar.

*

Palisades Tennis Club was a big winner in the SCTA Sectional Grand

Prix Senior Masters held last week at Palisades and over the weekend

at Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

Palisades produced winners in three divisions, with Newport Beach

Tennis Club producing the only other local victor.

George Sarantos from Palisades won the men’s 60 singles division

and David Bohannon, also from Palisades, was victorious in the men’s

55 singles.

In men’s 45 doubles, Jono Fears and Jerry Van Linge, both from

Palisades, defeated fellow club member Kim Viera and partner, Randy

Houston, 6-3, 6-4.

Viera also finished as runner-up in the 45 singles. Other local

runners-up included Ron Hextell (Newport Beach Tennis Club) and Peter

Smith (Palisades) in the men’s 60 doubles, Irv Goldberg (Palisades)

and Jerry Robinson (Palisades) in the 65 doubles, Catherine Hall

(Newport Beach Tennis Club) in the women’s 75 singles and Norma Veal

(Newport Beach Tennis Club) in the women’s 65 singles.

Veal, in addition to her second-place finish in the singles,

brought home the women’s 65 doubles title, pairing with Ada Cowan to

win, 6-3, 6-2.

*

Palisades also held its mixed doubles championships over the

weekend and a familiar name came out on top in the 6.0 division.

Brian Morton, a Corona del Mar High grad and a member of the top

doubles team at UC Irvine, combined with Erin Hendricks to win the

mixed doubles title in the club’s top division.

Morton and Ball actually won a CIF Southern Section doubles

championship with the same partner. Morton and Garrett Snyder

captured the crown in 2001, while Ball, then a freshman, teamed with

Snyder for the 2002 championship.