CdM doubles dominate

CORONA DEL MAR — All Corona del Mar High boys’ tennis coach Tim Mang wanted was one set from senior Fabian Matthews.

The UC Irvine-bound Matthews easily won that first set Thursday against visiting Servite, in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs. After the 6-0 win, the Pacific Coast League singles champion was able to take off, and sophomore Pierce Stemler was substituted in.

The CdM doubles teams took care of the rest, sweeping all nine of their sets in the 11-7 CdM victory.

Corona del Mar moves on to play Thousand Oaks, a 13-5 winner over Loyola in the first round. The site of the second-round match, scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m., will be determined today by coin flip.

For the Sea Kings (15-4), the match against Servite (11-4) was a chance to show how much their doubles teams have improved over the course of the season.

“We feel pretty strong about our doubles,” said freshman Shane Korber, who swept with sophomore Ryan Peyton at No. 2 doubles by impressive 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 scores.

Korber and Peyton, who advanced to the semifinals of the Pacific Coast League doubles tournament, have also played together in United States Tennis Assn. tournaments.

“[Korber] has a good serve, and I poach pretty well,” Peyton said. “Off his big serve I can usually poach and just put away the ball.”

Also sweeping in doubles were junior Chris Damion and freshman Hayden Tremper. At No. 1 doubles, senior Bryan Buchert and sophomore Gabino Felgueroso won their all-important first match, 6-4, over Servite’s John MacArthur and Tim Santos. Sophomore David Vu and freshman Joel Ishii then subbed in to win a pair of sets.

The Sea Kings led the match, 4-2, after the first go-round and led, 7-5, after the second. But many of the doubles sets were finishing so quickly that Mang knew his team was never in danger. The Sea Kings added a second singles set in the third go-round, thanks to senior Brent Pham.

“I probably could have kept my [No. 1] doubles in for one more set and kept Fabian in for one more set,” Mang said. “If my first doubles would have lost that first set, they would have played the whole match.”

It wasn’t needed with the doubles dominance. But the Sea Kings will now prepare for what might be a tougher test: Thousand Oaks.

The Lancers, who finished second in the Marmonte League, boast singles players like Kyle McMorrow, who won the CIF division singles title at the prestigious Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament last month.

McMorrow and teammate Denis Lin, both juniors, are ranked No. 7 and No. 8, respectively, in the Southern California boys’ 18 singles. Matthews is ranked No. 11.

“It’ll be kind of like [Thursday’s] match,” Mang said. “We have to win all the doubles and Fabian can win one [set]. Everything else is gravy for Fabian.”

Don’t count on Matthews to be subbed out after the first set on Saturday.

“They have some good singles players,” Peyton said. “It should be a good match. I think if we play good doubles then we should win.”

CIF Southern Section

Division I Playoffs

First round

Corona del Mar 11, Servite 7

Singles – Matthews (CdM) def. Cox, 6-0, (sub) Stemler (CdM) lost, 0-6, 5-7; Pham (CdM) lost, 1-6, 2-6, won, 6-0; Fisher (CdM) lost, 0-6, 1-6, 4-6.

Doubles – Felgueroso-Buchert (CdM) def. Santos-MacArthur, 6-4, (sub) Ishii-Vu (CdM) won, 6-1, 6-1; Peyton-Korber (CdM) won, 6-1, 6-1, 6-0; Damion-Tremper (CdM) won, 6-0, 6-3, 6-0.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].