Boys tennis: CdM takes care of Woodbridge

Tony Altobelli

IRVINE - Fresh off a grueling weekend of nonstop tennis, Corona del

Mar High’s boys tennis team knocked off host Woodbridge, 13-5, jumping

right back into the fire.

“We’re still trying to recuperate from last weekend’s national

tournament,” Coach Tim Mang said. “Some of our doubles players aren’t

used to playing singles like they did so we’re still trying to catch our

wind.”

Taking care of business on Wednesday, however, was the No. 1 singles play

of junior Brian Morton and the No. 1 doubles play of juniors Randy Myers

and Peter Kulmaticki.

Morton lost only five games in his three-set sweep, while Myers and

Kulmaticki won, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1, for CdM (8-0), ranked No. 3 in CIF

Southern Section Division I.

Morton saved his best tennis for his last set. Falling behind, 0-3,

Morton ripped off 16 out of 17 points and swept six games in a row to

win, 6-3.

Myers and Kulmaticki improved their doubles record to 13-2, with their only two losses coming in tiebreakers.

“Our number ones really played well today,” Mang said. “When Morton is on

his game, I don’t think anyone can beat him. With Myers and Kulmaticki,

they played together all of last year and they really like playing with

each other.”

Another strong performance came from junior Robert Kennedy. After a

narrow 4-6 loss to Woodbridge’s No. 1 player, he rebounded to win, 7-5,

6-1, in his final two sets.

“Robert rebounded well,” Mang said. “I told him today that I would like

to see two, maybe three sets from him today and that’s what he produced.”

On the doubles side, Cameron Ball, who played doubles due to an ailing

right calf muscle, teamed up with Shaan Wadhwa and won two of three sets,

as did the No. 3 doubles team of Mike Bean and Josh Stuart.

“We wanted to rest Cameron a little bit with those big matches coming

up,” Mang said. “We’re still tinkering with our doubles combinations to

see what will work best. I don’t think I’ve found it yet, but we’ll be

fine.”

The big matches that Mang was referring to include a weekend trip up

north and a Pacific Coast League battle with one of the top teams in the

area.

“After this, we take on Brentwood and Santa Barbara this weekend on the

road, followed by University, at Uni. That’s gonna be a biggie.”

NONLEAGUE

Corona del Mar 13, Woodbridge 5 Singles - Morton (CdM) def. Mendelson, 6-0, def. Sheridan, 6-2, def. Van

Linge, 6-3; Kennedy (CdM) won, 6-1, 7-5, lost, 4-6; Ning (CdM) won, 7-5,

lost, 2-6, 0-6.

Doubles - Myers-Kulmaticki (CdM) def. Melikian-Noroozi, 6-4, def.

Middleton-Strozier, 6-3, def. Bregman-Bertone, 6-1; Ball-Wadhwa (CdM)

won, 6-3, lost, 4-6, won, 6-3; Bean-Stuart (CdM) lost, 3-6, won, 6-3,

6-3.