Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis – Page 4

Laguna Moves to 6-1 with Wins over Nordhoff, Carpinteria, and Orcutt Academy

Laguna Blanca Boys Tennis 2017-3

The Owls have been proving that this season is more than just a rebuilding operation. Despite having not a single starting senior in the lineup, Laguna has steadily worked its way into relevance by defeating six-of-seven teams faced so far in the 2017 season. Here are the match recaps for the last three wins:

Laguna v. Orcutt Academy (12-6)

Laguna faced a lineup-stack from Orcutt, which translated to a sweep from Coast Union at #1 doubles. They also picked up some wins at the #2 doubles spot, but failed to draw blood in nine sets of singles play. Alex Furukawa, Kai Nakamura, and Conor Scheinberg lost just 5 of 59 games played in singles action.

Laguna benefitted greatly from two wins from Jason Barnick and Victor Liu, who recovered well after stumbling early against the Orcutt’s #1’s. Kovid Mishra’s killer backhand (pictured above) and Kevin Khodabandehlou’s steady play provided an additional set win (6-0 against Orcutt’s #3 doubles team).

Laguna @ Carpinteria (10-8)

The Owls had a very tight match with the Warriors from Carpinteria, with the edge going to Laguna through superior singles play. Alex Furukawa swept (6-1, 6-0, 6-0) and Victor Liu and Kai Nakamura each added two set wins. Victor Liu played his best match as an Owl, fighting deep into his second-round match against Carp’s second best player to pull out a 7-5 victory.

Doubles struggled against Carpinteria’s top two teams, unable to take a single set, but got by the Carp #3’s with relative ease to provide the three sets needed to clinch the match without counting up games.

Laguna v. Nordhoff (13-5)

Singles play was led again by junior Alex Furukawa, who won his sets 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. Freshman Kai Nakamura added a 6-2, 7-5, 6-0 sweep of his own. Alex and Kai were super-solid all day long. Nordhoff’s top two players were both very consistent, but our guys broke them down with a combination of steadiness and willingness to go on the attack at the right moments.

The Rangers’ top doubles pairing Mikel Elizalde and Elias Simon eked out a tight 7-5 tie-break win in the first round against Laguna’s Victor Liu and Jason Barnick en-route to a sweep on the day. Laguna won all the remaining doubles sets, with two wins from Liu/Barnick and another four wins spread across four doubles combinations including players: John-Henry Schulz, Kelvin Chen, Rhami Zeini, Kovid Mishra, Peter Smith, and Jack Stein.

Laguna, now 6-1, will face Oxnard/Pacifica High School at home on Thursday. The Owls dropped an 8-10 decision against Pacifica last year while playing short several players, but will look to flip the script with a full lineup this time around. Laguna will also face the Thacher school next Tuesday before the beginning of Spring Break.

Laguna Takes Two Victories in Two Days

Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis has moved to 3-1 this season with wins over St. Bonaventure at Ventura College on Monday and Coast Union today at Furukawa Tennis Garden in Hope Ranch.

Laguna Blanca @ St. Bonaventure (16-2)

Juniors Alex Furukawa and Jason Barnick made their season debuts in the singles lineup, alongside freshman Kai Nakamura, winning seven-of-nine sets. All three singles players won their sets against St. Bonaventure’s #2 and #3 singles players and Furukawa completed a 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 sweep on the day.

In doubles play, Laguna recorded a flawless sweep from junior Conor Scheinberg and freshman Rhami Zeini (6-0, 6-0, 6-0) and junior Victor Liu and his partner freshman John-Henry Schulz also swept their matches in convincing fashion. Finally, junior Kelvin Chen paired twice with sophomore Kovid Mishra and in the third round with sophomore Jack Stein to also notch three wins on the day.

In the final round of play, Chen/Stein found themselves down 2-5 before winning every remaining game in the set to take a 7-5 victory.

Laguna Blanca v. Coast Union (15-3)

Today, Laguna again adjusted the lineup, with Victor Liu and Conor Scheinberg re-joining the singles lineup. The pair each swept their sets and Alex Furukawa won two sets at the #1 position before being substituted in the final round.

Doubles featured many lineup combinations and substitutions, but freshman duo John-Henry Schulz and Rhami Zeini stood out, with a quick win against Coast Union’s #2’s and then a closely fought 6-4 victory against the #1’s. Jason Barnick and Kai Nakamura also recorded a win over the Coast Union #1 team before being substituted out for the final two rounds.

Freshman Kevin Khodabandehlou made his season debut with Jack Stein, picking up a 6-2 win in doubles play. Another match that featured Laguna substitutes, junior Eric Qin and freshman Peter Smith pulled out a tie-break win (7-5) to end the match.

Laguna Blanca boys’ tennis returns to play against Orcutt Academy this Friday at 3:30pm (home).

Laguna Splits First Two Matches of Season

Laguna Blanca boys’ tennis opened the 2017 season this week with a 12-6 win over Dunn at home and a 6-12 loss to Santa Ynez away.

Laguna Blanca v. Dunn (12-6)

Singles players Victor Liu (junior) and Kai Nakamura (freshman) picked up two wins apiece, defeating Dunn’s #2 and #3 singles players in convincing fashion. Junior Conor Scheinberg added a set in singles and also played a solid 2-6 set against undefeating Dunn #1 singles player Julian Deck.

In doubles, Laguna was led by junior Jason Barnick and freshman John-Henry Schulz, who swept their sets 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 at the #1 doubles position. Doubles pairing Peter Smith/Wesley Schulz added two set wins and Kovid Mishra/Jack Stein and Zane Mazor-Brown/Tony Xu chipped one set each at the #2 doubles position.

Laguna Blanca @ Santa Ynez (6-12)

In what was a challenging early-season match, Laguna was unable to match the depth of a balanced Santa Ynez team.

Kai Nakamura’s performance at #3 singles proved to be a significant bright spot, with the Laguna freshman notching two wins in three sets of play with very effective strategy execution. Victor Liu played a very close first-round set against the Santa Ynez #1 player Braxton Johnson, eventually succumbing 4-6, but also showing off improvements made during the off-season. Liu also managed to snag a set in the second round of play, beating Santa Ynez’s Robert Meyer 7-5.

Alex Furukawa made his season debut, coming over from soccer, winning two of three sets with partner John-Henry Schulz. Kelvin Chen also played in his first match of the season, partnering with Jason Barnick to win a set in the final round of play.

Laguna will play three times in the coming week:

Monday – @ St. Bonaventure (at Ventura College)
Tuesday – v. Coast Union
Friday – v. Orcutt Academy

Ranked Laguna Tennis Team Misses Playoffs Selection on Technicality

It is with sadness that I have to report this news. Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis will not be in CIF Playoffs for a fourth consecutive season, despite showing superior performance over other teams that will be included.

As a freelance team, CIF requires 50% win-percentage to apply for an “at-large” bid and 80% win-percentage for automatic qualification into the playoffs. At 12-4, we came up one win short of 80%. Having had a great season, I still felt we had a good chance at being selected, but it was not to be. Continue reading “Ranked Laguna Tennis Team Misses Playoffs Selection on Technicality”

Laguna Tennis Finishes Regular Season 12-4

Laguna completed regular season play with a 15-3 win over Dunn that was initially quite a close match! In the first round, Dunn senior Abe Storey took an early 4-1 lead against Laguna’s Alex Furukawa and managed to hold on for a 6-4 victory. Meanwhile, on the next court over, Dunn’s best player (Julian Deck) picked up a tie-break win against Laguna senior Phillip Hicks and the #3 doubles position was also won by Dunn in a close set. Happily, that was to be the end of Dunn’s scoring for the day.

After going 3-3 overall in the first round, Laguna picked up the remaining 12 sets of play, spearheaded by a sweeps from Andrew Tolles in singles and Jack Stein/Kovid Mishra in doubles. Victor Liu/Conor Scheinberg also won two sets by large margins before Cameron Squire replaced Scheinberg to win a third-round set with Victor Liu.

The win puts Laguna Blanca Tennis at 12-4 overall, just short of the 80% win-margin required to automatically qualify for CIF Playoffs. Laguna hopes that consistently appearing on the D4 Top-Ten Seeding List will aid an at-large bid into the playoffs. Draws will be announced next Monday.

Laguna Empties Bench in 13-5 Win

Conor Scheinberg

Laguna Blanca moved to 8-1 on the season with a 13-5 victory at home against Orcutt Academy (5-3). The matched featured all 18 members of the Laguna team.

Singles was anchored by Alex Furukawa, who won his sets 6-1, 6-1 before being substituted out in the final round. Sophomores Conor Scheinberg (pictured above) and Victor Liu also came away with two wins each in singles.

In doubles, Phillip Hicks won two sets with different partners before being substituted out. Hicks partnered with fellow team captain Atty Roddick for a resounding 6-0 victory against the #1’s and then teamed up with Cameron Squire for a 6-4 win against the #3’s.

Freshman Andrew Tolles added 2-of-3 sets playing with different partners in each round.

The Owls are on spring break for several weeks, returning to play on April 12th against Carpinteria High at home.

Laguna Blanca Finally Defeat Pirates in 10-8 Win

Phillip Hicks Three seasons ago, Laguna Blanca boys’ tennis made the CIF playoffs for the first time in a decade. That team would go on to win a tight first-round match and hold a 4-2 lead over regional rival Santa Ynez High in the Round of 16. When all was said and done, Santa Ynez came back from that deficit with a 10-8 victory. It was a heartbreaker.

The next year, Santa Ynez beat us 11-7 in regular season play and then went on to win the CIF Division 4 Championships. In that match, Tristan Prinz and Ben Furukawa swept their singles sets and Phillip Hicks added another win at the #3 spot, but doubles got blanked 0-9. It was a heartbreaker.

Last season, Santa Ynez came to play at Laguna but after a few minutes of rain, decided unilaterally to cancel the match. Laguna Blanca seemed primed to finally take the win and the courts were dry shortly after the scheduled start time. The match never got rescheduled. It was a heartbreaker.

This season, there was no heartbreak. Phillip Hicks and Alex Furukawa (Ben Furukawa’s younger brother) continued the trend of two years prior by sweeping at the #1 and #2 singles spots. Today, though, there was also enough firepower in doubles to overcome the Pirates. Continue reading “Laguna Blanca Finally Defeat Pirates in 10-8 Win”

Laguna Tennis Now 5-1, Entering Heart of the Season

Laguna bounced back from yesterday’s loss with a resounding 13-5 win over Nordhoff High School at their courts in Ojai. The Rangers are currently ranked #10 in CIF D5 and are the defending Frontier League Champions. Continue reading “Laguna Tennis Now 5-1, Entering Heart of the Season”

Laguna Boys’ Win First Match of the Season

laguna beats coast union

During what can only be described as an idyllic day for tennis, the Laguna Blanca boys’ team got it’s season off to a solid start with a 13-5 win today against Coast Union.

Laguna dominated singles play, winning 8-of-9 sets. Senior Phillip Hicks and sophomore Alex Furukawa both swept, while freshman Andrew Tolles added two wins.

Tolles and Furukawa are fresh off the soccer team’s 2nd round loss in CIF playoffs yesterday, meaning they didn’t even get to practice before the match! Now that they’ll be on-court every day together, these three will be an increasingly dangerous starting singles lineup as the season progresses.

In doubles, sophomore Jason Barnick had an outstanding day, winning his first two sets with partner Kylan Tyng and adding a third set win with partner Kelvin Chen. Barnick dropped just 1 game in three sets of play.

Senior Atty Roddick and sophomore Victor Liu came up with 6-1, 6-0 wins along with a close 4-6 set against the Coast Union #1 doubles team. Jack Stein and Eric Chen also had their talons out in their first matches together, coming close to victory in three 4-6 sets.

Laguna boys’ tennis plays next on March 1st at home against St. Bonaventure High School at 3pm. We hope to see you out there!

Thorpe Tennis: 2015 Year in Review

Barbara Hallquist DeGroot Celebrity Coach Laguna Blanca Summer Tennis Camp Another great year is in the books and I am thrilled by the progress my students have made in 2015. I’m already excitedly looking forward to raising the bar again in 2016, but before we get ahead of ourselves…

A few highlights from the year at Thorpe Tennis:

Worked with 63 different players from age 8 to 52.
Spent over 1,000 hours on-court teaching lessons and coaching high school matches.
Directed a second successful year of the Laguna Blanca Summer Tennis Camp, oriented towards middle schoolers and incoming freshmen interested in playing at the high school level.
Coached Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis to an 13-3 regular-season record and won a CIF playoff round for the third consecutive year.
Led Cate School Girls’ Tennis to what was likely the most successful season in team history, going 13-1 during the regular season and making the CIF D2 Quarterfinals.
Coached an unheard-of six Cate girls to Tri-Valley League All-League 1st Team and received Coach of the Year Award.
Completed a two-year project with Edward Cho at Cate, helping him achieve his goal of going from JV to Varsity singles starter
Began utilizing photos and slow-motion video within lessons to give players another angle for understanding their game.
Helped Julia Gan finally break the top-400 in the country, while also winning the Tri-Valley League Singles Championship and getting widely recruited to play college tennis. We even made her an awesome recruiting video!
Had the pleasure of watching senior students matriculate to fine schools such as: Cal Poly SLO, St. Andrews, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, and University of Colorado at Boulder.
Expanded community interaction with my students, their families, and other supporters with 28 blog posts that were visited by 1,800 people and viewed 5,000 times. This year also featured many photos of players in action that are free to download and share!

Thanks to all of you for being part of my tennis family. It is my passion and pleasure to be part of yours. Here’s to another great year of tennis in Santa Barbara!

Trevor Thorpe