trevorthorpetravels

Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis Season Wrap

Now that the season is a few weeks in the back mirror, I want to take a moment to reflect on our success.

Despite playing our first couple matches short-handed, we finished the regular season with a 13-3 mark, with our only losses coming against San Marcos (D1 playoff team), Cate (D3 playoff team), and Rio Mesa (D3 playoff team).

We qualified for the CIF D4 playoffs for the third consecutive year, and for the third consecutive year the Owls picked up a first-round victory in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. In the last three seasons, we have managed 3 playoff wins and a combined match record of 50-12. Continue reading “Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis Season Wrap”

The Playoff Picture: Laguna to Travel Early, but Receives Favorable Draw

CIF has released the playoff pairings and all-in-all I think it looks promising. Tomorrow, we’ll travel north to Templeton to play the Los Padres League #2 seeds. With a victory, we’ll make the main draw, where Buckley awaits an opponent on Wednesday. Here’s a look at final division seedings and the draws:

Templeton has long been a distant second to Santa Ynez in the Los Padres League, but this season they keep much closer to league victory. On April 14th, Santa Ynez won an 11-7 match with a clean sweep of the doubles and two wins in singles. Templeton will be led by senior Jarred Hall, a tournament-level singles player who recently finished runner up to PJ Marymee (Santa Ynez) in their individuals tournament. With junior Phillip Hicks (pictured at top) hitting form at just the right time and a solid lineup from top-to-bottom, we should have all the answers.

Looking ahead to a second match, Buckley is a private school in Sherman Oaks that has recently been moved back down to D4 from D3 last season, so they may be a bit under the radar at #8-seed. In fact, they are entirely under the radar, since there is not a single report in a newspaper or website about any of their matches this season. It’s just as possible that, without exposure to many teams outside of their league, Buckley might yield Laguna the #8-seed spot in the draw on Wednesday, leading to a potentially easier quarterfinal round.

First thing is first, though, and that first thing is in Templeton at 3pm tomorrow. Riding a streak of 11 wins in our last 12 matches, I like our chances.

– Coach Thorpe

Whole Team Gets Involved in 12-6 Owls Win

The whole team got involved in the action today, with all 13 members playing during the match at the Dunn School in Santa Ynez. It was a far cry from our first match of the season, where we could only field seven players, two of which had not yet learned to keep score.

Leading the way for the Owls were Atty Roddick (pictured above), Phillip Hicks, and Ethan Tyng, who partnered with different teammates throughout the matches en-route to 3-0 records on the day in doubles. The Laguna doubles lineup, in fact, went undefeated on the day.

In singles, senior Connor Elmore picked up two wins and sophomore Henry Farrell (pictured below) added another in one set of play before being subbed out.

We are now 7-3 and will play again today at home against St. Bonaventure High School at 3pm. As a freelance team (not part of a league), CIF requires us to play a minimum of 16 matches to be eligible for playoffs. In addition, we must have a winning record to be considered for selection and must have an 80% win-percentage to get an automatic bid.

Doing the math, that means we have a chance to automatically qualify if we go undefeated in the last six matches of the season. Our hopes of achieving this goal have been buoyed recently by the addition of freshman Ethan Tyng and senior Cooper Farrell, as well as sophomore Kelvin Chen. The three newcomers accounted for five of our 12 sets yesterday and they figure to improve with regular practice. In addition, we are expecting the return of our wayward thespian, Mitch Gravelle, who provided a boost to the roster in the early part of the season.

One of the challenges of a 10-week season is getting to the end of it with the team intact and firing on all cylinders. I believe we are poised to do just that, making us a potential outside contender if we can just claw (or “talon”) our way into the CIF playoff picture.

– Coach Thorpe

*Thanks to Kristin Tyng for providing most of the photos for this post!

Laguna Beats Dunn and Bishop Diego, Battles in Loss to Cate

Last Friday, Laguna picked up a decisive win against Dunn without our usual #1 singles player. Henry Farrell and Alex Furukawa led the charge with sweeps in singles and doubles was dominant as well.

On Tuesday, we faced Bishop Diego and their star player Spencer Ekola. Despite being unable to make any headway against the NCAA-bound player, Laguna came out with a 14-4 victory. Jason Barnick and Kylan Tyng swept in doubles, and Martin Barnick paired with Mitch Gravelle for a win and then helped Eric Chen gain his first two victories in high school tennis. Atty Roddick and Connor Elmore were dominant in two sets before a third-round substitution that saw Erik Qin come to within a few points of his first win of the season (paired with Elmore).

Yesterday we faced the Cate School, a familiar opponent from the former Condor League. Although an early departure of the London spring break trip meant we had to forfeit three sets right off the bat, we battled to a 6-12 final score against last year’s CIF semifinalists.

Alex Furukawa and Henry Farrell paired for two wins in doubles and a close third set against Cate’s #1’s, while Barnick/Gravelle and Elmore/Roddick each added a set to the total. In singles, Phillip Hicks fought admirably against the big one-two punch of Kevin Ha and Jason Xiao, before getting a quick win at the #3 spot. Kylan Tyng reversed his fortunes from a week ago to take an exciting tie-break win against the #3 player as well.

As we enter spring break, Laguna boys’ tennis can feel pretty good about the current state of affairs. With a 3-2 record, and several of the toughest opponents of the season out of the way, April looks promising if we continue to improve.

Laguna Tennis Splits First Two Matches of 2015 Season

It’s been a crazy first two weeks of tennis this season, with a number of our players being part of playoff teams for winter sports. After rescheduling the first two matches of the season, we decided to just dive in regardless of the soccer team’s impressive run to the CIF Championship game tonight.

On Wednesday, we beat Oxnard High 12-6 on the back of sweeps in singles from Phillip Hicks and Alex Furukawa. In doubles, senior Martin Barnick paired with Connor Elmore for a sweep, while Atty Roddick and Jason Barnick picked up two wins as a doubles team. Kylan Tyng came through with a solid win against the Oxnard #3 in the final round of play.

Today we faced San Marcos High without two of our top three players and came out one set better than last season with a 5-13 result. Seniors Martin Barnick and Mitchell Gravelle claimed a doubles sweep with 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 scores in an impressive first appearance together. Connor Elmore and Jason Barnick also played a strong three rounds, taking a win over the San Marcos #3 team by a 6-4 score and playing two more close 3-6 sets. Phillip Hicks added a 6-2 win in singles.

Next week we will face perennial rival Santa Ynez on Wednesday and then Dunn School on Friday. Both of these matches will be played at home on the new Laguna Blanca Furukawa Tennis Facility.

Julia Gan Takes Title at Oxnard Winter Junior Tournament

Last weekend we drove down to the Oxnard Winter Junior and on Sunday afternoon came back with the hardware.

Julia has had some tough luck with draws in her first few tournaments in California, but this time breezed through an easy first-round match without dropping a game and followed that up with a convincing 6-1, 6-4 win over #1-seed Yu Mu. Mu trains full-time at Weil Tennis Academy and is currently ranked #498 in the country in the senior class.

In the finals, Gan faced a challenging 2.5-hour match against Dominique Derse. In the first set, Gan had a 4-2 lead and several break-point opportunities to go up 5-2, but Derse fought through the long service game and came roaring back to win the first set 7-5. The second set was also close, taking over an hour to complete, with Gan taking it 6-4.

The beginning of the third set looked troublesome for the Cate junior, with Derse breaking in the first game and going up 40-0 in the next. However, Julia Gan’s tenacious style-of-play was taking its toll on her opponent and Derse began to fatigue, making more unforced errors than in the previous two sets. Gan took the break back and from there she rolled on to a 6-1 third-set victory.

Julia Gan now sits at #534 in the nation for the junior class and holds the #16 spot in her native North Carolina, according to tennisrecruiting.net.

Julia Gan Collegiate Tennis Recruiting Video

It’s my pleasure to have the opportunity to work with talented players who have NCAA aspirations. One such player is Julia Gan, who will be graduating from the Cate School in spring of 2016. Here is a showcase video, presented by Thorpe Tennis:

2014: Thorpe Tennis Year-in-Review

This has been, undoubtedly, a banner year for Thorpe Tennis and the schools and individuals with whom I get to share this great game. Every day I am thankful for the opportunity to share my passion for tennis with a great group of people in this paradise called Santa Barbara. As I plan for my next big adventure (read about it here), I’m already looking forward to all the exciting things that lie ahead in 2015, but before we turn the page…

A few highlights from the year at Thorpe Tennis:

Worked with 49 different players from age 8 to 56
Spent over 1,000 hours on-court teaching lessons and coaching high school matches
Saw three years of planning, campaigning, and finger-crossing come to fruition with the completion of the Furukawa Tennis Courts at Laguna Blanca
Launched the Laguna Blanca Summer Tennis Camp to rave reviews
Coached Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis to an 11-5 record, a second-consecutive CIF playoff appearance, the #7-seed in CIF Division 4, and a second-round showing in CIF playoffs
Started a Laguna tennis tradition with a weekend trip to the desert for the BNP Paribas Open, where we got to see Nadal, Wawrinka, the Bryans and many other pros play
Led Cate School Girls’ Tennis to an 8-5 record and another CIF playoff appearance, despite moving up two divisions and facing much stiffer competition. Cate battled through a wildcard round victory and made a strong 6-12 showing against future CIF finalists, Murrieta Valley
Coached Julia Gan to several singles wins against nationally-ranked juniors and brought Gan and McKenna Madden together for a Tri-Valley League finalist showing in doubles, followed by a second-round appearance in CIF Individuals
Enjoyed another successful year from Daniel Newton, who qualified for the Central Coast Grand Prix Masters and currently holds a ranking of #107 in California, plus more hardware for Alex Furukawa, despite an apparent blinking problem!
Helped Ben Furukawa achieve a personal best #112 in California ranking. Fellow Laguna senior Tristan Prinz also notched victories over Jason Xiao (f0rmerly undefeated in Condor League play), Kevin Ha (currently #308 in the country), and scored the biggest victory of his career against Dimitri Colffer (recently ranked as high as #190 in the country) in his last high school match
Had the pleasure of watching seniors from Laguna and Cate tennis programs go on to college at UCLA, University of Washington, Colorado School of Mines, Ole Miss, UPenn, Yale, and USC

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and here’s to another year of phenomenal tennis in 2015!

Trevor Thorpe
Thorpe Tennis

Julia Gan and McKenna Madden Compete at 2014 CIF Individuals Regional Event

After qualifying for CIF Individuals via the Tri-Valley League tournament, Gan and Madden represented the Cate School in two matches.

In the first round of play, the Cate team drew Frontier League #1’s from Villanova Prep. Wasting no time and giving nothing away, Gan/Madden clinched a second-round berth with a 6-0, 6-0 victory.

Julia Gan and McKenna Madden win at CIF Individuals 2014

After a short break, they took the court again to face much more seasoned competition in the form of Thousand Oaks duo Mahli Silpachai and Emily Ackerman. The two freshman are both ranked in the top-25 in California and top-150 in the country in their class after years of competitive national-level tournament play.

The match was tense in the first few games of play, with the Cate girls losing the first four games, despite several deuce-games. Gan held serve with the help of Madden’s aggressive poaching to put Cate on the scoreboard, but the Thousand Oaks pair went on a run.

Through the middle part of the match, the Cate pair struggled to find a winning strategy, but found their feet again at 0-5 in the second set. With their backs against the wall, Julia Gan and McKenna Madden rallied to win the next three games on exciting, offensively-minded play from the baseline and net.

Silpachai/Ackerman were then able to regain their composure and serve out the match, but not before the Cate girls made it clear that they were capable of playing on-level with their higher-ranked opponents.

The Thousand Oaks team would go on to win their next match by a greater margin and will play in the final rounds of CIF Individuals next week. 2014 Cate Regional Girls Individual Doubles Draw

In other local news, Carpinteria High senior Kelsie Bryant finally put three wins together to get her shot at the final rounds of CIF singles play. Bryant entered the tournament via her Tri-Valley League title, and so we will be following closely and cheering her on as she represents our league the final CIF tournament.

Cate Girls’ 2014 Season Roundup

For those of you following my blog for your playoff updates, I have somewhat bad news. We lost over a week ago to the undefeated #2-seed, Murrieta Valley. That’s where the bad news ends, really, because we fought them to a 6-12 score…the closest match they’ve had all season.

In fact, when the dust settled, with Pharibe Pope coming back from 4-5 down to win her last match as a Cate player, it felt a lot like winning.

We had a great drive back, thanks to Wade Ransom’s chartering of a private bus and a fun stop at Slater’s 50/50 in Pasadena. He has been a great support to us throughout the season, always making sure I/we had the things needed to produce great results. Since we bowed out of the playoffs, our Tri-Valley League stablemates La Reina and Carpinteria both made 2nd round exits, but Murrieta Valley is playing in the CIF D2 finals as I write (guess which team has come closest to beating them so far in the playoffs?!).

In D5, Thacher has been mostly unchallenged and is currently playing for the championship, which proves that Cate could be competing for a CIF title if we were playing in a division with similarly-sized schools.

On Monday, we had our end-of-season team dinner, my first as head coach at Cate. We graduate five seniors, several of whom I have been coaching for four years now. There was a general frustration that we couldn’t just stick together as a team for the rest of the year, which speaks volumes to how much fun we had and how well we get on.

Still, we will have to let Kate Dehlendorf, Maddie Gordon, Victoria Herman, Pharibe Pope, and Kate Schroeder go on and dominate the college world just the same as they elevate “the rock” with their mere presence.

Special recognition also goes to our 2014 award winners:

Team Awards
Most Improved – Summer Christensen
Coach’s Award – Pharibe Pope
Most Valuable Player – Julia Gan
Best Captains Ever – Kate Dehlendorf, Victoria Herman

TVL All-League Awards
1st Team Doubles – McKenna Madden/Julia Gan
2nd Team Singles – Eva Herman, Pharibe Pope
2nd Team Doubles – Kate Dehlendorf/Victoria Herman

CIF Individuals Participants
(Results to Come) – McKenna Madden/Julia Gan

Now, I would be remiss without pointing out another record-holder amongst us. This year, Maki Kobayashi was our lone freshman. She not only improved her tennis game, but also set and then broke the record for most tennis balls held in one’s skirt/shorts. For all you readers, the record stands at 54 balls. Maki is a trained professional. We cannot be held responsible for what happens if you try this at home!Finally, I want to mention how awesome the parent-support was this year. I really appreciated help with snacks/drinks from our local parents and it was great seeing all of you who came from further afield for our parents’ weekend match. Thank you for your support throughout this great season.