Lightning edge San Marcos, move into CIF semifinals

The last two doubles matches on court Monday afternoon finished suddenly, within five seconds of each other.

First, Sage Hill senior Adam Langevin and sophomore Ryan Ha finished off a 6-3 win over San Marcos’ Alexi Gill and Dan Coulson. A moment later, Sage Hill sophomore Steven Ferry and partner Robert Gerschultz, also a sophomore, served out a 6-3 win against Alex Stefanov and Bryan Shott.

The host Lightning didn’t really need to win those last two sets in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoff quarterfinal match. They already had more than enough games to earn the victory, if it came to that.

But the two doubles teams made sure it didn’t, and they provided a nice exclamation point on an 11-7 Lightning victory over San Marcos at home.

No. 3-seeded Sage Hill (16-1) is back in the Division 2 semifinals for the second time in three years. The Lightning lost the pre-coin flip and will play at No. 2 Redlands on Wednesday. Redlands defeated Diamond Bar, 11-7, in another quarterfinal match Monday.

In the other Division 2 semifinal match, No. 4 Newport Harbor will play at top-seeded Yorba Linda.

Sage Hill is a match away from its second CIF title match in program history. The first time, in 2011, resulted in the program’s only CIF title.

Coach Zoran Korac’s Academy League champion Lightning switched things up against San Marcos (14-4), which shared the Channel League title. For the second straight playoff match, No. 1 singles player and senior Adam Langevin played doubles. This time, the partner was different, as Langevin played with Sage sophomore Ryan Ha.

They produced the Lightning’s only sweep, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

“We have to be able to be a flexible team,” Langevin said. “In order to do that, we have to have all our players be able to play singles and doubles. Once we meet the team in person, if we see that they’ve got singles players that we’ve heard of, then we can get ready and prepare for doubles. In this case, we made a last-minute switch for me to play with Ryan, and that really set us up for doubles to do some huge damage today.”

The singles player the Lightning had heard of was San Marcos senior Kento Perera, who beat Langevin in the Ojai Tournament round of 16 before being ousted in the quarterfinals. Perera easily swept his matches Monday, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1.

But the Royals also stacked their doubles, allowing Sage Hill’s Rohan Krishnan, Emin Torlic and Ian Huang to all earn 6-0 victories against San Marcos’ No. 2 and 3 singles lines.

The score was tied, 3-3, after the first round. But Sage’s Ferry and Gerschultz rebounded from a 6-1 loss to San Marcos’ Daniel Newton and Dominik Stefanov in the opening round for a 6-2 win over Gill and Coulson in the second round. That helped Sage Hill earn a key 7-5 sets advantage headed into the final round.

Gerschultz, who has more of a soccer background, plays center midfield for the Sage boys’ soccer team. But he’s also good with volleys for the tennis team.

“I had a large project due today in English class, and I stayed up really late,” Ferry said. “I procrastinated a lot, so it was a fun night for me. I had a rough start today [in the match], but thankfully I had a great partner who supported me and didn’t really get angry at all when I would miss the ball. We were able to get my game back, and win the next two [sets]. Robert had some incredible putaway shots and incredible reflexes.”

San Marcos swept Sage Hill at the No. 3 doubles spot, but it wasn’t enough for the visitors to pull off the upset.

The Lightning don’t know a lot about their next opponent, Redlands, but rest assured that Korac will try to find out as much as he can before Wednesday afternoon about the Terriers, who won the Division 4 title last season.

“He’s a mastermind at who goes where in a lineup, and that can really determine how the points line up in the match,” Langevin said. “He’s very good at that. That’s one of his specialties, something that the school has been lacking a long time. It’s very hard to come by, a talent like that, to be able to read a team and know who goes where, and how a match plays out in your mind.”

*

ALSO IN DIVISION 2:

Newport Harbor 11, Riverside King 7

The Sailors won on the road in the Division 2 quarterfinal match Monday.

Max McKennon swept, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, for the No. 4-seeded Sailors, and David Lee won twice in singles. The doubles teams of Mark Schaefer and Sam Leaman, as well as Andy Myers and David Sharp, both swept.

Newport Harbor (19-4) will play at top-seeded Yorba Linda in a Division 2 semifinal match Wednesday.

*

IN DIVISION 1:

Peninsula 14, Corona del Mar 4

The Sea Kings’ season ended as they lost at home to the top-seeded Panthers in a quarterfinal match Monday.

Jacob Cooper and Ryan Wessler won twice in doubles for Corona del Mar (15-7).

The Sea Kings were tied, 3-3, after the first round, but Peninsula won all six sets in the second round to seize control.

[email protected]

Twitter: @mjszabo