Tennis: Sea Kings knocked off by Menlo in semifinals

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Top-seeded teams dropped out like flies in the

first round, and Coach Tim Mang’s Corona del Mar High Sea Kings joined

the elimination line Saturday at their own barbecue.

The Sea Kings, hosting the inaugural CdM/Pavilions National High School

Boys Team Invitational at the Palisades Tennis Club, were knocked off by

upset-minded and statement-endorsing Menlo of Atherton, 5-4, in the

championship semifinals and had to settle for playing Harvard-Westlake in

the undercard third-place match.

“I’ll tell ya,” Menlo Coach Bill Shine said, “this means the world to us.

Some newspaper down here made a big deal about the national rankings

(from the final 1999 USA Today poll) and listed the teams one through 20,

and we weren’t on that list, even though we won the Northern California

championship last year (and finished 27-0).

“Our kids have been pointing to this tournament ever since then. When we

weren’t listed in the top 20, our kids didn’t take it too well ... so

this tournament was a really big deal to Menlo, a school so small it has

only 500 kids, and about 250 boys, and we were going up against these big

giants.”

Somewhere before, a Corona del Mar coach of any sport probably said

something similar.

But, on this day, it was CdM feeling the pinch of the little guy.

CdM, in fact, a team ranked No. 2 in that ’99 national poll after winning

the CIF Southern Section Division I championship, breezed through the

first round against Woodberry Forest of Virginia, 7-2, and enjoyed the

luxury of dipping into its second tier of players for doubles. Beverly

Hills pushed the Sea Kings in the quarterfinals, but the hosts won, 6-3.

Neither Woodberry Forest nor Beverly Hills, however, had anything to

prove as large as Menlo’s Knights, the CIF Central Coast Section champion

in 1999.

Menlo won twice Friday with identical 5-4 scores, and moved ahead in the

semifinal match against CdM in singles, 3-2, after Ryen Peck defeated

CdM’s Peter Kulmaticki at No. 6 in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-2).

Peck also won at No. 3 doubles to clinch the upset victory for Menlo,

teaming with off-the-bench Darren Lachtman to beat CdM’s Michael Bean and

Robert Kennedy, 8-5.

“I don’t think anybody expected us to get this far, actually,” Peck said.

“Our league (in Northern California) is not very strong, and we all love

being in this situation at a national event with a chance to prove

something.”

With Menlo leading by one, CdM’s Randy Myers capped the final set with an

exciting 8-6 win over Menlo’s Preston Walters.

“I heard the crowd, and I knew Peter (Kulmaticki) had lost and we were

down, 3-2,” said Myers, who broke Walters’ last serve to clinch it. “I

knew what I had to do to win.”

Sophomore sensation Cameron Ball, at No. 2, and Kennedy, at No. 5, also

won in singles for the Sea Kings.

Menlo’s James Pade took care of CdM’s Brian Morton at No. 1 singles, 8-5,

and Peck’s win and Steven Golod’s triumph over Bean provided the Knights

with equal opportunity access on CdM’s home base.

“We played a very good team, and their No. 1 singles player (Pade) is a

very good player,” said Mang, executive director of the Pavilions

National who seeded the teams in the tournament, including his Sea Kings

at No. 2 behind Peninsula.

In the first round, fourth-seeded Dr. Michael Krop of Miami was drilled

by Brentwood, 9-0, and third-seeded Cherry Creek of Colorado was upset by

Centennial of Bakersfield after the opening bell, 5-4.

Of the tournament’s four seeds, only Peninsula advanced to the

championship final, after defeating Harvard-Westlake in the semifinals,

7-2. Peninsula beat Menlo in the final, 7-2.

In the Sea Kings’ semifinal setback, only a handful of players stepped up

in crunch time, Mang said.

“Menlo won all the close matches (Saturday),” Mang said. “Probably the

most positive thing for us was Randy Myers at No. 3 singles, and Cameron

played excellent tennis throughout the whole tournament, going

undefeated. And our first doubles went undefeated (with Ball and

Morton).”

Morton and Ball were behind, 2-6, in their No. 1 doubles set against

Menlo’s Pade and Preston Walters, then came back to win six straight

games.

Patrick MacKay and Frank Walters, however, defeated CdM’s Myers and

Kulmaticki at No. 2 doubles, 8-3, and Menlo’s Peck and Lachtman won at

No. 3 doubles against Bean-Kennedy, 8-5, to win the match before the No.

1 doubles set was completed.

“Menlo’s an excellent team for their area,” Mang said.

Added Shine: “When you get that close, you really start to believe in

yourself and find a way to win, and that’s what our doubles did.”

Of the top-20 teams ranked in USA Today’s national poll, five competed,

including Corona del Mar and No. 5 Peninsula.