CdM’s Fernandez del Valle, Pham advance

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES — Making the CIF Southern Section Individuals Tennis Tournament is a difficult thing in the Pacific Coast League.

Players need to make league finals in singles or doubles to qualify for CIF Individuals. In his fifth season this year, CdM boys’ tennis coach Jamie Gresh finally had his first doubles team finish as the runner-up in league to qualify.

Diego Fernandez del Valle and Kyle Pham, though, weren’t satisfied with merely making it into the CIF Individuals draw.

They advanced past the sectional round of the tournament on Thursday at the Jack Kramer Club. Fernandez del Valle, a junior, and Pham, a sophomore, had a first-round bye before winning a pair of matches.

Other local singles players and doubles teams failed to advance. Laguna Beach’s doubles team of Taylor Sokolovic and Andrew Johnson, as well as the Breakers’ singles players of Mason Lebby and Ethan Gee, all fell in the second round. Laguna’s pairing of Blake Hawkins and Jacob Pieteg lost in the first round, as did the Ocean View tandem of Spencer Hagaman and Kyle Tsai.

CdM’s Fernandez del Valle and Pham blanked Ash Etadali and Lucas Fortt of Laguna Hills, 6-0, 6-0, in the second round before beating Mike Tilly and Caden Spencer of San Clemente, 6-1, 6-3, in the third round.

The third-round match turned in the middle of the second set. With Fernandez del Valle serving at 3-3, the game went to five deuces. But Fernandez del Valle would save three break points to hold serve. The CdM duo then immediately broke Tilly’s serve, before Pham held serve at love to win the match.

“That 3-all game was a pivotal game, which we grabbed and kind of took the momentum, and that was that,” Gresh said. “As long as they stay positive, as long as they work together, good things are ahead. It’s all about keeping their composure and working together as a team, setting each other up. They complement each other really well.”

Fernandez del Valle said he and Pham are good friends, so the pairing works out. Pham, typically CdM’s No. 1 singles player, is happy to be on the court after suffering an ankle injury midway through the season.

“My ankle’s a lot better,” he said. “I’m still not 100%, where I was two or three months ago when I hurt it, but it’s definitely a lot better.”

One area that the CdM duo will have to improve on next week is their return of serve, Gresh said. Fernandez del Valle and Pham will find out Tuesday if they have to play in the round of 32 on June 1 at Whittier Narrows, or if they advance straight to the round of 16 the following day at Seal Beach Tennis Center.

“The serving was solid, but returns in play is a big statistic that needs to go up as the competition gets better,” Gresh said.

Laguna Beach’s Gee, a senior, finished out his high school career. He beat Mong Moua of Magnolia, 6-2, 6-0, before losing to Jinta Sasamori of Bishop Montgomery, 6-4, 6-0, in the second round.

Gee said it was the fourth straight year he had lost in the second round of CIF Individuals, though the previous three years were in doubles.

“It was really fun this year, because I got to play Jinta,” said Gee, who will study math at the University of Oregon next year. “He was a very good player, and I never really see that much [in the Orange Coast League]. It was a nice change of pace. I felt like I played really well, probably the best I played all year, but there were some points where I could have done better. It was hard, because he had a really hard serve, but I just kept myself focused and just played.”

Lebby, a sophomore who was the Orange Coast League singles champion, beat Gene Pham of Garden Grove, 6-4, 6-2, in the first round. But then he lost to top overall seed Connor Hance of Peninsula, 6-0, 6-0.

“I felt really good about the way I played,” Lebby said. “There wasn’t a lot I could have done better. I didn’t really put pressure on myself, just tried to get as many points as possible. He was obviously a very good player, and I was just trying to play my game.”

First-year Laguna coach Rick Conkey said he also was happy with how his two doubles teams competed. Sokolovic and Johnson beat Keith Nguyen and Martin Nguyen of Westminster, 6-4, 6-2, in the first round before losing to Chris Torasco and Corey Angeli of San Clemente, 6-2, 6-0.

Laguna’s Hawkins and Pieteg lost in the first round to Ryan Nguyen and Teddy Nguyen of La Quinta, 6-2, 6-4.

Ocean View’s Hagaman and Tsai were the Golden West League runner-up doubles team. They were blanked by Etadali and Fortt, 6-0, 6-0, in the first round.

Sage Hill

Sage Hill boys’ tennis had a singles player and doubles team advance Thursday at the University of Redlands sectionals site.

Senior Adam Langevin had a first-round bye. He then beat Tim Make of Los Osos, 6-1, 6-2, and Bennett Williams of Bonita by a 6-3, 6-3 score.

The Lightning doubles team of Steven Ferry and Emin Torlic also had a first-round bye. They then got past a team from Granite Hills, 6-0, 6-0, and a team from Claremont, 6-3, 6-3.

Sage freshman Rohun Krishnan beat Michael Gilfenbain of Brentwood, 6-2, 6-3, then beat Andy Zonforlin of Beaumont, 6-2, 6-1. Krishnan lost in the third round to Leyton Bohren of Claremont, 6-3, 7-5.

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