Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis

Inaugural Cate Winter Junior WTN Tournament Recap

Over the weekend, 52 players competed in the “first-of-its-kind” Cate Winter Junior WTN Tournament at the Cate School in Carpinteria.

The tournament is designed to prepare high schoolers (and aspiring high school players) for the CIF-Southern Section scoring and match style. The format also allows players to improve the reliability of their USTA/ITF “WTN Rating,” the newly emerging standard for comparing player levels across all divisions of tennis.

A total of 111 matches were played, between boys and girls singles and doubles, utilizing the CIF-Southern Section “single-set, deuce+1 scoring format.”

In a nod to World Cup “Futbol” tournament organization, Day 1 featured round-robin groupings of four players, with the top players advancing to a singles single-elimination draw in the afternoon of Day 2. Between the singles action, 8-teams of boys and girls competed in doubles compass draws.

When the dust settled, Cate players had done their school proud, taking victory in all four events, despite facing players from as far north as Atascadero, as far south as Los Angeles, and as far east as Lithuania!

In girls’ singles, sophomore standout Jade Wang was dominant, dropping just 4 games in 5 matches, including a 6-3 finals win over junior Chloe Kalison 6-3 of Villanova High School. The victory follows her win at the Santa Barbara Winter Level 6 USTA Tournament in the G16 division just 5 weeks ago. Sophomore Cate student Elly Edwards also reached the semifinal round, falling 4-6 to Kalison.

Boys’ singles featured a number of exciting matchups on both days, with 3 of the top 4 seeds advancing to the semifinal round. Laguna Blanca junior Oliver Tande pulled off the upset of the tournament over #3 seed Gavin White of Thacher School in the Round of 16, while #5-seeded Lucas Forry of Santa Barbara High School eventually reached the semifinal round with a 6-1 win over Alex Corbo of San Luis Obispo High School.

Cate sophomore Bruce Li proved too much for Forry on the bottom half of the draw, while Cate junior Kakeru Hirofuji took out #1 seed Grantas Pikunas, a highly rated Lithuanian exchange student playing for Dunn School this season.

In the all-Cate finale, Hirofuji’s relentless intensity overcame Li’s length and athleticism, with Hirofuji taking the 6-2 win in what was a reversal of fortunes from the boys’ doubles final earlier in the day.

After three rounds on Sunday morning, the two Cate singles players also found themselves on opposite ends in the finals, with Hirofuji and Forry partnering against Li and fellow Cate sophomore Kendrick Suen. The match-up was close from start to finish, with Li/Suen eventually defeating Hirofuji/Forry 7-5 in a tie-breaker to claim the boys’ doubles trophy.

The girls’ doubles was also a 7-5 tie-break victory, playing out on the next court over within minutes of the boys’ event. Singles players Wang and Edwards of Cate came through the semifinals with a 6-3 win over freshman Ella Osley of Laguna Blanca and 8th grader Keren Monroy. Meanwhile, #1-seeded Cate sophomore/junior combo Ivy Huang and Reyna Takahashi posted a 6-1 victory over their junior teammates Gwendi Rogers and Claire Tang.

In the all-Cate girls’ final, Huang and Takahashi were pushed to the limit, defending a match-point at 5-6, before recovering to win a closely contested tie-breaker.

Not to be left out, Cate’s Kendrick Suen and middle-schooler Hannah George received the tournament honors (and TennisWarehouse gift cards) for their excellent sportsmanship throughout the tournament. In addition to Suen’s doubles title performance, both players went 3-0 in their singles groupings on Day 1, proving that winning and sportsmanship can coexist!

Players and spectators also did an admirable job attempting to finish off all the food from the “surprise” pizza party at lunch-time on Day 2. Only 1 of 10 pies had to be sent off to the Cate School boys’ dorm rooms for immediate disposal.

Big thanks need to go to a number of people who made this event possible: Greg Tebbe at Santa Barbara Tennis Patrons, Wade Ransom at Cate School, Mark Polowczak and Cameron DeAragon on the tournament staff team, Fred Randall for taking photos of the doubles players in action, the Danely family for being the first to sign up when the entry list was empty and lonely, and my wife Maria who put up with me obsessing over making this tournament as good as I could make it.

Thanks also to the players for their efforts and parents for their kindness throughout the weekend. I enjoyed every minute of that tournament and hope you all did, too!

If you’d like to see more of the results for this tournament, visit the Cate Winter Junior WTN Tournament on the USTA website. For Fred’s downloadable photos from the doubles tournament, click here. If you’re already looking forward to the next one, save the dates (May 2-3, 2026) and sign up early for the Cate Spring Junior WTN Tournament.

Draws will be limited to 32 singles players and 8 doubles teams and both doubles draws ended up with alternates in the inaugural edition. Also, early sign-ups mean the tournament director has fewer headaches and more time to plan a fun event!

Trevor Thorpe – Tournament Director

Thorpe Tennis 2025 Year-in-Review

My 17th year living and working as a tennis coach in Santa Barbara is now done-and-dusted. It always shocks me how quickly the time passes and yet how much I manage to squeeze in…this year was no different!

The sporting year began on a personal note, as I got to partner with my doubles partner from college (20 years ago?!) to compete in the Wilson World Tennis Classic L2 35’s Doubles Tournament. We reached the finals, taking wins over a player who reached #1702 on the ATP tour, a former D1 starter (Boise State), and a former D2 starter (UT-Dallas).

Following that tournament, I reached an all-time high USTA national ranking of #20 in my age-group, but highlight was getting to compete with my old buddy Aron in front of our wives and my childhood tennis coach Kurt, in the Palm Springs Area where I grew up!

There was little time for reflection though, as it was immediately back to Santa Barbara to finish up my Cate Winter Training Group. The 2025 edition featured 10 players and continues to grow as a resource for our boarders looking to increase their tennis opportunities during the off-season.

Next up, in was the start of my 16th season coaching at Laguna Blanca. This year, I stepped aside as head coach, ceding the role to my friend Mark Polowczak, who has been helping me with all of my programs over the last few years. As I gradually step back at Laguna, it’s really pleasing for me to see that the program is in good hands.

In 2025, the Owls managed to snag the final playoff spot in the Tri-Valley League, and went on to reach the CIF D5 Quarterfinals. This is the strongest playoff showing since we reached the CIF D4 Semifinals in 2022, and with a young team, it’s also a performance upon which to build in the coming years.

Throughout the summer months, a number of players from the Thorpe Tennis Community competed in USTA junior tournaments, with a particular stand-out being Alex Danely. In 2025, his UTR rating moved from below 4 to 5.3 as he won the Solvang Summer Classic and the Top Seed Tennis Academy Round-Robin, as well as finishing runner-up in the San Luis Obispo Summer Classic.

More recently, Alex partnered with Graham Clinger (another member of the Cate Winter Training Group) to finish runner-up in the Santa Barbara Winter Junior Championships. In that same tournament, another Cate player that I coach, Jade Wang, claimed the girls’ 16’s singles title!

The end of summer brought another personal tennis highlight for me. Most of you know that I compete with and co-captain the “Santa Barbarians” in the Santa Barbara Mens’ Interclub League. Since 2012, we’ve been on the hunt for our first doubles championship, and this year we finally got it!

Partnering with my co-captain Wes Barber’s son Curran Hall, we went 3-0 in the playoffs at line 2, including the title-clinching win against SBTC in the finals. In that match, we competed against a former D1 player and a former D3 nationally-ranked player, both of whom I’d lost matches against in the last year.

The match came down to a 10-pointer in the 3rd set, with the SBTC team going up 8-3 and 9-7 before we fought back to take the final FIVE points. In a prideful moment, I have to say that I hit back-to-back corner aces for the first time in my life and played like a banshee at the net during the tail-end of this tie-breaker. Sometimes, if you believe that you cannot be stopped (and you’ve put in the work), you can summon a moment of tennis invincibility. The body follows the mind, so take care what you think to yourself.

It was an absolute highlight of my tennis life to be able to come through for this Barbarian band of brothers that I love so much…even better to do it while partnered with the Barbarian NextGen, Curran, who carried himself so well throughout this season and was such a valuable member of the team. Also, I got to be taller than his dad (the first guy who invited me into the playing community when I came to Santa Barbara), if only for a moment!

Next up was season 17 coaching girls’ tennis at Cate. We had another exceptionally strong season, going 14-1 overall during the regular season, winning the Tri-Valley League, clinching a playoff berth for the 14th consecutive season (D2), and peaking at #46 of 373 schools in CIF Southern Section. Additionally, junior/sophomore combo Lisa Hasebe and Ivy Huang reached the final 64 doubles teams in individuals and the entire starting lineup went undefeated in TVL league play!

Off the courts, I got the chance to travel quite a bit (shocker, right?). Some highlights were:

Beach-hopping on Kauai and Oahu.

A number of visits to check up on the CasasThorpe Vacation Rentals in Merida and play some padel with local friends like Xavier.

3 visits to Austin, including attending both “SXSW” and “Austin City Limits” festivals.

Backpacking the 40-mile Trans-Catalina Trail in 3 days.

Finally getting to the end of the famous “Angels Landing” hike in Zion National Park.

Completing the “Rim-to-Rim” in 24 hours in Grand Canyon National Park

Completing a “new-to-us” backpacking route with Maria’s daughter Dali in Yosemite National Park

Making our triumphant return to European summer (our long-delayed-by-immigration-paperwork honeymoon), this time spending a week exploring the beaches of Crete and the bazaars of Istanbul.

And ending the year in our beloved Mexico, with visits to a number of areas in Jalisco, including Costalegre and Guadalajara with family for the holidays.

If you’ve made it this far, congrats on being a totally committed member of the Thorpe Tennis Community…and sorry I didn’t manage to shorten this post as much as I shortened my hair throughout the year. Regardless, it remains abundantly clear that this is more than just a tennis business…this is an extended family growing around and learning from this sport we all love. See you in 2026!

-TT

Owls Run the TVL Gauntlet, Come Out with Chance at .500

Now in the final week of the season, Laguna Blanca boys’ tennis has improved to 5-6 overall, despite facing strong opponents in Cate and Thacher in the first few days back from a two-week spring break.

Laguna Blanca v. Thacher: 3-15 Loss

Laguna had just one practice leading into a tough league match against visiting Thacher, and paid for it dearly in the 3-15 loss. The Owls were unable to scratch against a strong Thacher doubles lineup, with just Noah Mitev/Enzo Vinoly able to force a close tie-break loss against the Thacher #3 team. In singles, both Mason Berg and Oliver Tande had their chances against the Thacher #1 and #2 opponents but were unable to convert, with the two plus Wyatt Burt only able to secure singles wins against the Thacher #3 player.

Laguna Blanca @ Dunn: 13-5 Win

The Owls shook off the Thacher defeat and regrouped for a quality win over the Dunn School in the Santa Ynez Valley. The win was spearheaded by doubles sweeps from Lucas Ayala/Keanu Christiansen and Noah Mitev/Enzo Vinoly.

In singles play, Mason Berg came close to victory over UTR 6.8-rated Richard Bertea, but would have to settle for a 2-1 record on the day. Oliver Tande also recorded 2 wins, with Wyatt Burt adding a win in the final round-of-play.

Laguna Blanca v. Cate: 5-13 Loss

In what was billed to be a brutally difficult day for the home-team, visiting Cate was unable to dominate the match in the way they had the previous season, en-route to their CIF D3 title.

Laguna fought gamely through out the match, starting with a huge win for freshman Oliver Tande against UTR 7.3-rated senior, Ethan Bloom. Both he and Mason Berg added singles wins over Cate #3, James He, but Nate Newlove from Cate managed to stem the bleeding with a 3-0 day at #2 singles.

In doubles play, Lucas Ayala and Keanu Christiansen were competitive in all three matches (3-6, 3-6, 7-6), including a tie-break win over the #3 team. Sophomores Enzo Vinoly and Noah Mitev struggled to find their footing in the early rounds, but rallied to take a 7-5 victory in the third round against the #3 team as well.

Laguna Blanca v. Bishop Diego: 15-3 Win

This was the most complete performance of the season for Laguna Blanca tennis, with the team having come out of the trials of the last week-and-a-half battle-hardened.

Both Oliver Tande and Mason Berg swept their singles matches, taking quality victories over freshman standout, Lucas Forry. In doubles, it was a clean sweep for the Owls, a first on the season. Sophomores Connor Murphy and Changzheng Yu battled through a tough tie-break win in the first round against the Bishop #3 team, before building nicely to 6-1 and 7-5 victories against the #2 and #1 teams (respectively).

What’s next for the Owls?

Laguna will close out the season with a TVL match against St. Bonaventure High School of Ventura, to be played at Furukawa Tennis Gardens in Hope Ranch, 3:30pm. With a win, the Owls would finish the season 6-6 overall, meeting the pre-season goal laid out for the mostly freshmen and sophomore team by coaching staff.

Laguna Ends First Half of Season 3-4 Overall

The Owls entered spring break off the back of an 8-1 win at Santa Maria High School, led by Mason Berg and Oliver Tande at #1 doubles and Keanu Christiansen debuting at #1 singles.

The win broke a two-match slide, with Laguna suffering a tough 6-12 loss with playoffs implications against Villanova Prep. The match may have just come too early in the season, as the Owls dropped a number of 4-6 and 5-7 sets against the more experienced team from Ojai.

Prior to that match, Laguna faced Foothill Tech, a team with no weakness across their lineup, and the likely heir to Cate’s title as league champions. A bright spot in the match was senior Mason Berg’s 6-3 victory over Foothill #2 player, fellow senior James Sokoloski.

The post-spring break Tri-Valley League matches come fast and furious, with 5 scheduled in the final two weeks of the season, with the Owls looking to finish strong to secure the season goal of a .500 overall win/loss record.

Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis Off to 2-1 Start in Young Season

It’s not just the season that’s young at Laguna Blanca: the team is compromised almost entirely of freshmen and sophomores, with just one senior and one junior added in for good measure.

Despite their youthful composition, the Owls are off to a solid start to the season, taking two-of-three matches against non-league opponents in the opening weeks of play.

Laguna Blanca @ Orcutt Academy: 7-2 Win

Laguna Blanca boys’ tennis won its first match of the season against Orcutt Academy, 7-2. The Owls traveled to Alan Hancock College in Santa Maria for the match, played using the CIF Central Section scoring format.

In singles, Laguna nearly swept, winning 5-of-6 sets, with the #1 spot a hard-fought 4-8 loss. Freshman Oliver Tande held up under pressure for an 8-6 win at the #2 position, while classmate Keanu Christiansen record an 8-0 win at the #5 position. Sophomore team captain Noah Mitev came from behind to register an 8-6 win at #3 singles, followed by an 8-4 win from his classmate Enzo Vinoly.

In doubles, the Owls top team of Tande/Vinoly lost a tight 7-9 pro-set, while Mitev and freshman Wyatt Burt picked up the 8-6 win.

Laguna Blanca @ Santa Ynez: 2-7 Loss

Despite the scoreboard, the Owls came very close to pulling off the upset in Santa Ynez, with experience seeming to make the difference in close sets.

With doubles played first, captains Mason Berg and Noah Mitev battled gamely, but were unable to overcome the tournament-level experience of the Santa Ynez #1 team of Bryce Wilczak and Lucas Doman.

The #2 and #3 doubles positions offered better opportunities for victory, but it was not to be. Freshman/sophomore combo Oliver Tande/Enzo Vinoly got off to a slow start and were not able to make up enough ground, falling 6-8. Meanwhile, on court 3, junior/sophomore combo Lucas Ayala/Connor Murphy held a 7-4 lead before Santa Ynez came charging back for a 9-7 win.

In singles play, Laguna got wins from Tande and fellow freshman Wyatt Burt at the #2 and #6 positions, respectively. Tande was particularly impressive, with a surgical performance that saw him upset a higher-rated Doman (6-3, 6-2).

Freshman Keanu Christian held a 4-1 first-set lead before succumbing 6-7, 4-6 in a very close match at #5 singles, while sophomores Noah Mitev and Enzo Vinoly both dropped competitive matches at #3 and #4 singles (5-7, 4-6; 4-6, 3-6, respectively).

Laguna Blanca v. Cabrillo/Lompoc: 13-5 Win

After falling to Santa Ynez on Tuesday, Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis rebounded sharply yesterday, earning a 13-5 win over visiting Cabrillo High School of Lompoc.

The match featured a near-sweep of the singles sets, with captain Mason Berg picking up his first 3 wins of the season, along with 3 from freshman Oliver Tande, who is now 5-0 on the season in singles play. Freshman Wyatt Burt added 2 set-wins, giving the Owls an 8-1 advantage.

In doubles, no team went undefeated, with Laguna Blanca pairings Keanu Christiansen/Enzo Vinoly and Noah Mitev/Lucas Ayala both finishing 2-1 on the day. Freshman Matthew McDermott saw his first action of the season, pairing with sophomore Changzheng Yu for a 1-2 result across their three sets of play.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

We are a young team, so of course we had a few slip-ups throughout the course of these early matches, but the effort level has been high throughout. Importantly, we’re improving at a rapid rate and still managing to be competitive so far against these CIF Central Section teams in pre-season play.

We’ve got an even bigger test ahead on Monday against Arroyo Grande, but hopefully that prepares us well for our league opener against Foothill Tech next Friday. Both games will be played at home, so that should help!

Laguna Blanca Enters Final Phase of Season 6-2 with a Chance of Playoffs Berth

The Owls have just two matches remaining in the Spring 2023 season, with Foothill Tech visiting Hope Ranch today and a rescheduled away match this coming Tuesday against Cate School.

In league play, the Owls are 3-2, with the top four teams in the Tri-Valley League receiving an auto-bid into the CIF Playoffs. However, the two remaining teams are some of the stronger squads in the TVL, meaning an upset win in one of those final two matches of the season will be necessary to pick up that auto-bid. Laguna is guaranteed a winning record on the season, and consequently, an at-large bid for a playoff wildcard spot should they fail to produce an upset today or next Tuesday.

Recent Match Recaps

Laguna Blanca v. Carpinteria: 9-9 (71-65) Win

Carpinteria High ceded the #3 doubles position, giving Laguna a 3-0 start to the match, which ended up being critical in the tie-break win. Carpinteria’s #1 singles player, Max Stone, was dominant in dropping just 1 game across three sets and Laguna was also unable to scratch against the #1 doubles line.

Davis Ohanian went 2-1 on the day in singles, while senior captains Aden Meisel and Kent Dunn each chipped in a win over the Carpinteria #2 singles player. In doubles, the pairings of Mason Berg/Robbie Dunn and Cody Busch-Weiss/Connor Murphy each picked up wins over the Carp High #2’s to bring the total to 9 set-wins. The Owls then nervously counted games within each set to reveal a win by a margin of just 6 games.

Laguna Blanca @ Thacher: 3-15 Loss

The Owls faced a very strong Thacher squad in a match that had very few close sets. One bright spot was a 12-10 tie-beak win from junior Mason Berg in his first singles match of the season, playing at the #3 position. Sophomore Davis Ohanian added a 6-2 win against the Thacher #3 in the final round of play, with the sole doubles set-win coming from seniors Aden Meisel and Cody Busch-Weiss against the Thacher #2 line.

Laguna Blanca v. Dunn: 14-4 Win

Twin brothers Kent and Robbie Dunn went 3-0 in singles play against the school that coincidentally bears their name. Davis Ohanian slotted into the doubles lineup for the first time on the season, pairing with Mason Berg for a blemishly sweep at #1 doubles. Freshmen Connor Murphy and Noah Mitev partnered to go 3-0 on the day as well, while Cody Busch-Weiss and Lucas Ayala finished 2-1 on the day.

Laguna Blanca v. Bishop Diego: 14-4 Win

The Owls nearly completed a sweep of the Bishop Diego singles lineup, with Davis Ohanian and Mason Berg dropping just 6 games between them in 6 sets-of-play. Kent Dunn lost a tight 5-7 set against the Bishop #1, but rallied to take a tie-break win in the final set to finish 2-1 on the day.

In doubles, Laguna was unable to crack the top Bishop Diego team, with two sets pushed to 5-7 scores. However, it was all W’s in the remaining 6 sets, with pairings Cody Busch-Weiss/Robbie Dunn, Connor Murphy/Noah Mitev, and Lucas Ayala/Changzheng Yu all finishing 2-1 on the day. Ayala and Yu were particularly notable, playing together for the first time and battling gamely for the Owls in three close sets (5-7, 7-5, 6-4).

Laguna Blanca @ St. Bonaventure: 13-5 Win

Laguna Blanca secured a winning record on the season with a 13-5 victory over short-handed St. Bonaventure, who conceded the #3 position in both singles and doubles.

The Owls got a sweep from new pairing Aden Meisel and Noah Mitev in doubles and cobbled together wins from Davis Ohanian, Mason Berg, and Kent Dunn in singles against the #2 and a win from Cody Busch-Weiss and Robbie Dunn against the #2 doubles team to create the comfortable winning margin.

What’s Next for the Owls?

In addition to the remaining TVL matches, Laguna will send 6 players to participate in the league doubles tournament, which begins this coming Monday at 1pm, with the Cate School hosting.

Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis Opens Season 2-1

The Owls faced a rain-soaked first half of the 2023 tennis season, but managed to go into spring break with wins over Orcutt Academy and Santa Ynez High School.

Laguna Blanca v. Orcutt Academy: 6-3 Win

In the season opener, Laguna played the CIF-Central Section format of 6 singles matches followed by 3 doubles matches. Sophomore Davis Ohanian led the team at #1 singles with a 6-3, 6-2 win and junior Mason Berg also won in straight sets at the #4 position.

Laguna’s senior captains, Aden Meisel and Kent Dunn, took third-set tie-break wins at the #2 and #3 positions to add to the Owls’ singles tally. Orcutt fired back with wins at the bottom two positions in the lineup, putting the match at 4-2 going into doubles play.

Laguna got a win from Lucas Ayala and new addition to the team Noah Mitev at the #3 doubles position and the last match of the day was won by Ohanian and Meisel, who partnered at the top spot in the doubles lineup.

Laguna Blanca v. Santa Ynez: 6-3 Win

Laguna again utilized the CIFCS format in the match against Santa Ynez.

The Owls split the singles match-play, wins at the #3-#5 positions (Kent Dunn, Mason Berg, Robbie Dunn, respectively). Davis Ohanian nearly pulled up an upset win at the #1 position, playing the experienced Santa Ynez ace to an 11-13 score in the third-set tie-breaker.

With the match tied going into doubles play, Laguna held nothing back in fielding some formidable doubles combinations. Ohanian and Meisel paired for an 8-4 win at the top spot, with Mason Berg and Kent Dunn also partnering for an 8-2 victory. Junior Lucas Ayala shared the #3 position with freshman Noah Mitev to make a clean sweep of the doubles with an 8-3 win.

Laguna Blanca v. Villanova: 5-13 Loss

The match against Villanova High School from Ojai marked the beginning of Tri-Valley League season play. Unfortunately, it ended in a loss against the deeper Villanova squad, but there were some particularly bright moments for the Owls.

Davis Ohanian played lights-out tennis for a 6-2 win over Tristan Montecino, a senior and one of the stronger players in the league. He followed that up with another quick win, moving him to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in league play.

The pairing of Robbie Dunn and Mason Berg lost a heart-breaker 6-7 at the #1 doubles position after leading early, but rallied to go 2-1 on the day with 6-2, 6-0 set-wins. Aden Meisel added a win over Roman Moga, the Villanova #2 player.

What’s Next for the Owls?

The Owls return to action after a two-week break, facing visiting Carpinteria High School at 3:30pm today. The match will be followed up on Thursday at Laguna, when the Owls will take on Dunn School in the second Tri-Valley League match of the season.

Owls’ Run Comes to an end in CIF Semifinals

Laguna Blanca boys’ tennis finally met their match today, dropping a 7-11 decision at West Covina High School. The match decided which team would advance to the CIF Division Finals to play Geffen Academy, a 10-8 winner over Westminster High School.

How it Happened

The day was characterized by blustery conditions, with wind gusts reaching 30 miles-per-hour, but the tennis went on with intensity.

In the first round, Laguna banked dominant performances from Kai Suzuki and Cody Busch-Weiss at #1 doubles and Ben Rodgers and Davis Ohanian at the #2 spot. Junior Aden Meisel added a nice 6-2 set-win at the #3 singles position.

On the other side, West Covina relied upon strength at the #1 and #2 singles positions, including Adam Lee who as recently as a few months ago was ranked #210 in the country in his class. West Covina leveled the match at 3-3 with a 6-2 win at #3 doubles, the first time this playoffs that Laguna had lost a set against a #3 team.

Round two went sharply against the visiting Owls, with West Covina rapidly sweeping the singles and giving Rodgers and Ohanian their first loss of the playoffs. Suzuki and Busch-Weiss took care of business at the top spot, while Mason Berg and Jake Gidney lost a tight 4-6 set against the top team from West Covina.

With the match now slipping away (4-8) after two rounds, Laguna battled on. Senior Owen Pryor registered a 6-0 win to end his playing career, while senior team captions Ben Rodgers and Kai Suzuki each winning in similar fashion with their doubles partners. The Owls were stopped at 7 wins though, as West Covina picked up the other three sets and book their berth in the title match on Friday.

Coach’s Comments

West Covina is the first team we’ve played in the playoffs that didn’t really have any weak points in their lineup. We have been winning 7-8 sets in doubles, thanks to our depth, but we only got 5 today. They also had a very strong singles lineup, so there were very few easy points to put on the scoreboard.

I would have loved to see this very deserving group of guys get a chance to play in that title match on Friday, but I can’t be disappointed by the way they competed. We had a great post-season, and both in the 4 wins and this loss, we can be proud of our performance and the way we carried ourselves.

Owls Advance to Semifinals with 13-5 Win

Laguna Blanca boys’ tennis will play in the CIF Semifinals for the first time in history after a 13-5 win against visiting Summit High School.

The win puts the Owls amongst the top four teams in CIF D5, alongside West Covina, Westminster, and Geffen Academy.

Summit entered the match as the #9-seed, with an impressive 21-2 record, while Laguna Blanca’s win-loss stood at 13-2.

How it Happened

In the first round, Summit struck first with a 6-1 victory at #1 singles, but Laguna fired back quickly with wins from Kai Suzuki/Cody Busch-Weiss and Ben Rodgers/Davis Ohanian at #1 and #2 doubles. These pairings remain undefeated across the 4 playoff matches, a devastating 1-2-punch that has been pivotal in Laguna’s advance to the semifinals.

Summit struck next with a 6-2 win at #2 singles over junior Kent Dunn, but his good friend and classmate Aden Meisel had the rebuttal ready as he took a comfortable 6-1 win at the #3 position. That left just the #3 doubles set on-court to decide the result of the first round-of-play.

Sophomores Mason Berg and Jake Gidney were locked in a tight battle with their Summit counterparts, going down early, but rallying to take a 5-4 lead with Berg serving.

As the sophomores looked to close out the set, the Summit team got tight with the calls, erasing an ace that would become a double fault at 30-15. There were even calls from the Summit sideline to change the call, but the call stood and Laguna was forced to ask for a line-judge for the first time in the entire season.

Upon restarting the match at 30-all, Berg and Gidney were lazer-focused and quickly took the set with a poach-winner and an unreturnable serve. The 6-4 set gave Laguna a 4-2 lead after the first round-of-play and set the table for what was to become a dominant all-around performance throughout the rest of the match.

On the back of a stellar 6-0 performance from Aden Meisel against the Summit #2, the Owls took the second round 5-1. Senior Owen Pryor added a 6-1 victory and the doubles lineup remained unblemished on the day.

With a 9-3 score and the match all but locked up, Laguna Blanca continued to play hard, taking advantage of every opportunity to hone skills and strategy that will help in the remainder of this season’s playoffs. Owen Pryor took a second win on the day and Kent Dunn chipped in with a 6-1 win over the Summit #3. In doubles, Suzuki/Busch-Weiss and Rodgers/Ohanian cruised, while Berg/Gidney nearly upset the Summit #1 team, conceding 4-6 in the end.

Coach’s Comments

In our pre-match warmup, we always end with a drill called the volley-weave. Today, we made 22-consecutive shots in that drill, with the opposing team looking on. We could hear the other team making nervous comments when we finished and I could sense we’d be bringing our top-level to this match.

This team has arrived. The guys clearly now believe they can go all the way in this CIF Playoffs. It’s something I knew they were capable of as we gathered in mid-February for the pre-season meeting. These guys have worked very hard to get from there to here, and I’m so proud of the poise they have been showing throughout the playoffs.

Also, I want to give a shout-out to parent-support throughout the season, but particularly today. The mango-game was incredibly strong today, which fortified us with the extra energy needed to close out our 4th match-win in 5 school days.

What’s Next for Owls Tennis?

Laguna Blanca will play at West Covina High School at 3pm on Wednesday, May 11th for a shot at the title match in Claremont on Friday.

Owls Fly into CIF Quarterfinals

Laguna Blanca took an 11-7 victory at Schurr High School in Montebello on Friday afternoon. The win means a return to the CIF Quarterfinals for the third consecutive full season (2020 and 2021 were incomplete due to COVID).

The Owls relied on eight set-wins in doubles, where both Kai Suzuki/Cody Busch-Weiss and Ben Rodgers/Davis Ohanian remain undefeated in post-season play.

Senior George Nicks got the call to the starting lineup for the second time this playoffs, pairing with sophomore Mason Berg for two wins on the day.

In singles, Laguna faced a strong Schurr lineup, but managed to sweep the number three singles player. Owen Pryor, Kent Dunn, and Aden Meisel all played fiercely, getting stronger throughout the match.

Coach’s Comments

This match was a total dog-fight in the best possible sense. The singles matches were full of long, high-intensity points. Owen had one point in the first game that went on for several minutes. In a pure battle of wills, he wasn’t about to be the first to flinch, and eventually forced the error from his opponent.

In doubles, we keep getting more dialed as partnerships continue to grow and I loved our aggressiveness at the net in this match.

What’s next for the Owls?

Laguna Blanca will play again on Monday, 3pm at home against the winner of La Salle and Summit high schools.