Boys’ Tennis: CdM nets SoCal title

CLAREMONT — Corona del Mar High freshman Kyle Pham got 10 minutes before the start of his third set Saturday afternoon at The Claremont Club.

The CIF USTA Southern California Regional boys’ tennis title hung in the balance. The No. 7-seeded Sea Kings were tied with top-seeded Peninsula in the championship match, 3-3, and Pham’s match against Sahm Irvine at No. 3 singles was the only one still on court.

What was Pham thinking during the break?

“There was no pressure on us,” Pham said. “They’re the one seed, and they’re expected to win. I just had to play well. No pressure.”

Any pressure, perceived or otherwise, was gone about 45 minutes later. The rest of the Sea Kings mobbed Pham just after he shook hands with the chair umpire following the completion of his match.

He rallied for a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Irvine that allowed CdM to shock the Panthers, 4-3, and claim the first SoCal Regional title in program history.

Pham, who played at No. 3 singles for CdM throughout the season, was the first to hoist the trophy in a post-match ceremony. The dedicated tournament player who is constantly working on his game came up big when it mattered most.

True to form, Pham was supposed to be playing in a United States Tennis Assn. Level 4 tournament in Anaheim on Saturday. Instead, he found himself in Claremont, helping CdM tennis make history. He also gave his dad, Justin, a nice birthday gift.

“It was really exciting,” Pham said. “The team was really supportive … I can’t believe we won that. It’s crazy. I’m happy I pulled out [of the Anaheim tournament]. This is a lot better.”

Better describes how CdM was in all of its four matches in an unlikely run to the title that included an upset of No. 2-seeded Torrey Pines in the quarterfinals Friday before edging Palm Desert, 4-3, in the semifinals.

Peninsula, the CIF Southern Section Division 1 champion, was missing its top player, Connor Hance. Peninsula Coach Mike Hoeger said Hance was playing in a tournament in Hawaii. But he also made sure to give credit to CdM, saying the Sea Kings had the toughest draw of any team.

Pham joined CdM senior co-captain Bjorn Hoffmann, as well as sophomore Diego Fernandez del Valle, as Sea Kings who went undefeated in four regional matches.

“You’ve got to give credit to Kyle,” Hoeger said. “I think Kyle and Sahm are both good defensive players. There was a lot of strategizing going on, and he just came through. We put Sahm in a tough position. He has played doubles for us all year, and I think Kyle has played a lot of singles. Kyle just seemed a little bit more comfortable out there.

“Kyle has really good timing. We tried to mix the ball up with him, spin some in, drive some, and it didn’t faze him. I think his timing is just really, really exceptional.”

Peninsula swept the three doubles matches Saturday. Ryan and William Mori beat CdM’s Oliver Kim and Grant Brown, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 1 doubles, and Louis Hoeger and Shoma Kishimoto topped Jacob Cooper and Ryan Wessler, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 2 doubles.

The Panthers also won the battle at No. 3 doubles, in which Huws and Rei Landsberger topped the Sea Kings’ John Hart and Matt Paulsen, 7-5, 6-2.

But CdM won all four singles sets. Hoffmann beat Daunte Harris, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 1, while Pedro Fernandez del Valle gutted out a 7-6, 6-3 win over Dariush Jalali at No. 2. His younger brother, Diego, claimed a 6-4, 6-3 win over Adil Kahn at No. 4.

“I knew their doubles was really strong,” CdM Coach Jamie Gresh said. “I thought we were going to have to be perfect in singles, and we ended up being perfect in singles.”

The other three singles wins left it up to Pham, who broke Irvine’s serve at love at 4-5 in the second set, starting a three-game run to claim the set, 7-5.

He went up 4-1 in the third set as his mom, Bonnie, watched from the walkway next to the court.

“Are you dying?” Hoffmann asked her as he turned around, smiling, midway through the third set.

She wasn’t the only one feeling the tension. Kyle Pham nearly earned another break of serve in the sixth game of the set, but Irvine saved four break points and eventually won the game.

Irvine, who won the deciding set in Peninsula’s 4-3 win over University in the regional semifinals, then immediately broke Pham’s serve to pull back on serve.

“I just had to forget those two games that I lost,” Pham said after the match. “I just had to refocus on the next one; try to get it back.”

He did so, breaking Irvine’s serve again to take a 5-3 lead and get within a single game of the title. Pham went up 40-love while serving for the match, but Irvine saved three match points to bring the game to deuce.

Pham got the next point, though, and didn’t miss another chance after that. He fired one of his hardest serves of the match, getting an ace to end it.

After some wild celebration, Gresh gathered his players in the corner of the court, letting him know how proud he was of all of them. It was truly a team effort for the Sea Kings. They had their whole team present — including substitutes Trenton Rhodes, Max Bui and Austin McWilliams-Lucero — for the duration of the tournament, unlike many other teams.

“You can only play the team that’s in front of you,” Gresh said. “I credit my guys. Thirteen of them started the year and 13 finished. They all committed to every match, every practice, and it was a true team effort to get through this tournament. What an amazing accomplishment for these 13 kids. It’s hard for me to describe how excited I feel for them, and how proud of them I am for all of their efforts.

“It’s just a great group of student-athletes. Not just tennis players, but a great group of student-athletes and people to be around for the past year.”

[email protected]

Twitter: @mjszabo