Sage Hill ready for CIF run

NEWPORT BEACH ? “Just like Federer and Nadal,” Sage Hill School tennis player Martin Park remarked to teammate Robert Wee with a grin before their match.

It wasn’t exactly a Grand Slam event with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal doing battle. Still, Park and Wee dominated the second day of Saturday’s Academy League tournament, held at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

After posting semifinal wins, the Lightning juniors made it to the championship match and faced each other. Park broke Wee’s serve early in the first set and ran away with it in the second, winning the singles title by a 6-4, 6-0 score.

“He and I play all the time,” Wee said. “In previous years, he’s been whooping me, but I’ve beaten him twice this year in practice. We don’t really play like (Federer and Nadal), but Martin’s the No. 1 seed (like Federer) and I happen to be a lefty (like Nadal).”

Park showed his dominance in both of his matches on Saturday. Up 5-4 in the first set of his semifinal against No. 4 seed Evan Storms of Fairmont Prep, Park broke Storms to take the set, then took the second set with ease. He strained his back late in the final against Wee, but said he would see a doctor and probably be fine for the CIF Southern Section Division V team playoffs.

Park and Wee also advanced to the CIF Southern Section individual tournament May 19.

“Earlier on in the tournament, I wasn’t playing my best,” Park said. “And I knew it would be different in the final. I know this guy, and he knows how I play. But I think I played one of the best tennis matches of my life.”

The Sage Hill doubles team of senior Michael Garrison and freshman Troy Astorino earned fourth place in the tournament. They squeaked by their quarterfinal match, 10-8 in a super-tiebreaker, and took the first set of their semifinal match against Whitney’s William Cho and Andrew Lee.

Cho and Lee rebounded for the win, then Garrison and Astorino were edged in their third-place match as well. But that sat all right with Lightning Coach A.G. Longoria.

“Michael Garrison is the most solid player on our team,” Longoria said. “He’s the reason that we’re so successful as a team. He keeps working and working and working, and I’ll miss him sorely when he graduates.”

In earlier doubles action Saturday, the Sage Hill teams of Grant Gerdau-Kevin Wang and Tyler Ross-Conrad Whitaker were both upended in the quarterfinals.

The Lightning now wait for the Division V playoff pairings to be released Monday. Sage Hill, the No. 5-ranked team, should have a first-round bye and play a second-round match on Thursday, Longoria said.

Sage Hill has lost in the playoff quarterfinals the last three years, each time to the eventual Division V champion.

“I think our chances are good to get past the quarters and into the semis,” Longoria said. “From then on, it’s going to be tough, because we’ve already played No. 1 Viewpoint and No. 2 Cate this year.”

The Lightning lost both of those matches, and also fell twice ? albeit in close fashion ? to Academy League foe St. Margaret’s, currently ranked No. 3 in Division V. Still, Garrison said he won’t count his team out.

“We have a No. 5 seeding, which is a little lower than we would have liked,” Garrison said. “But we can get through that. It’ll be interesting.”