Sage’s Ferry, Torlic advance in CIF Individuals

SOUTH EL MONTE — Sage Hill School boys’ tennis sophomores Steven Ferry and Emin Torlic never played together during the Lightning’s regular season.

Ferry played in doubles, while Torlic was typically in singles. When it came time to prepare for the Academy League tournament, though, first-year coach Zoran Korac decided to pair the two in doubles.

“I thought this was the strongest doubles team,” Korac said. “With Emin being a lefty and his serve, and Steven playing a majority of the time in doubles, I felt like this was the strongest team. The plan was to have Adam [Langevin] win league and advance, and it was great that Rohun [Krishnan] also got second place [in singles]. And the plan was for [Torlic and Ferry] to win league, which also happened, and to advance to the round of 16.”

Torlic and Ferry accomplished the final part of that plan on Thursday at Whittier Narrows Tennis Center. They beat Jacob Lee and Jamie Scott of Valencia of Placentia, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the CIF Southern Section Individuals doubles round of 16.

Longtime Sage Hill coach A.G. Longoria said it is believed that Torlic and Ferry are the first Lightning boys’ doubles team to ever advance to the final 16. They will join a large local contingent on Friday at 11:30 a.m. at Seal Beach Tennis Center. All of the other locals got byes into the round of 16.

Langevin will be in action in singles, along with Newport Harbor freshman Max McKennon. The Sailors doubles team of David Lee and Mark Schaefer is also in the round of 16, along with CdM’s doubles team of Kyle Pham and Diego Fernandez del Valle.

Winners will play in the quarterfinals later Friday. The CIF Southern Section Individuals semifinals and championship match are scheduled for Saturday, also at Seal Beach Tennis Center.

For Ferry and Torlic, it appears to just be a pairing that works.

“Steven has very solid ground strokes and hits them deep almost every time,” Torlic said. “That helps me to finish [at the net], finish volleys that are just sitting up there. Also, I feel like my serve can lead to lobs, and Steven is always very consistent with his overheads.”

The Lightning duo breezed through the first set against Lee and Scott, the Empire League runner-ups. A key moment arrived in the first game of the second set, as the teams engaged in a battle on Scott’s serve.

“That first game was kind of stressful,” Torlic said. “They were getting a bit more consistent, and the net player was getting more aggressive.”

The game eventually went to four deuces, but Torlic and Ferry eventually broke serve and were on their way to the win.

“I knew that we’d be able to break him, because I think we both had stronger ground stroke games and volley games than them,” Ferry said. “I wasn’t too concerned about the second set, after playing the first set.”

Torlic and Ferry will see how far they can advance on Friday. For now, though, being in the final 16 isn’t so bad.

“If you look at all of the leagues and the amount of teams in there, and you kind of think about it a lot, we’re the top 16 teams out of maybe 500 or so in all of the different divisions,” Torlic said. “That’s a pretty good feeling.”

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