A full-fledged favorite
Prep tennis: Wildcats return loaded squad
One rival Foothill League boys tennis coach used “landslide” to describe the extent to which West Ranch is the favorite entering the 2016 Foothill League season.
Not exactly politically correct. But very telling.
The Wildcats return eight of nine starters from a squad that rolled to a second straight league title in 2015 — and their newcomer is a talented tournament player.
Valencia is the consensus to finish second, and the rest looks to be up for grabs, especially the league individual tournament’s singles title.
The Vikings graduated threetime singles champion Chad LeDuff, who beat also-graduated Golden Valley star Brandon Yu in the singles title match last year.
Last year’s doubles champions aren’t gone, just not together. West Ranch sophomores Davey Woodland and Parker McBride are playing singles.
So it’s not that the league is without parity. There just isn’t much surrounding the league title.
West Ranch
The Wildcats’ lineup has a different look this season: not with who it consists of, but where they’re slotted.
Sophomores Woodland and McBride took the league by storm as freshman, going undefeated in Foothill play and winning the doubles crown at the league individual tournament.
They wanted to play singles in 2016 and won the spots in challenge matches.
They’ll slide in as a vaunted No. 2 (Woodland) and No. 3 (McBride) behind No. 1 Noah
Morrow, an All-SCV selection as a sophomore last year.
Woodland, though, beat Morrow in the finals of Valencia’s annual Spring Smash on Saturday.
So, needless to say, the Cats’ singles are deep and very talented, as is their doubles.
Senior Nikhil Bhumralkar and junior Quincy Walter-Eze both earned All-SCV recognition in 2015 and will helm the doubles lineup. They won the Spring Smash title in doubles.
West Ranch head coach Eric Spiecker called the duo “a great combination of aggressive play with finesse at the net. A very complete doubles team at this level.”
The No. 2 doubles team consists of sophomore Aristo Turalakey — who played with Bhumralkar last season — and freshman Charlie Spina. They finished third place at Spring Smash.
Senior Jake Hettinger and sophomore Jake Anderson round out the doubles, a format in which the Cats placed three teams in the league semifinals a year ago.
After making the quarterfinals in 2015, the Cats (5-1) look primed for a deep postseason run in CIF-Southern Section Division 2. They’re ranked No. 3 in the latest poll, but Spiecker’s focus is today’s match with Valencia.
“We always have to bring our best game to every match and respect the other team’s talent and drive,” Spiecker said.
Valencia
The Vikings, on the other hand, look almost completely different from the Foothill second-place squad that made the second round of the Division 2 playoffs last year.
LeDuff’s graduation leaves enormous shoes to fill. He did, after all, go 116-1 in Foothill League matches over four years.
The Vikings’ lineup isn’t set at this point, head coach Jennifer Azevedo said, but freshmen Eduardo Cedeno and Ian Cho, along with sophomore Chan Gi Kim, appear to be mainstays.
Singles has been some combination of five players: Cho, sophomore Jackson Boxall, sophomore Batis Golestany, senior James Webster and sophomore Dodi Quesada, an exchange student from Spain.
Webster opened Foothill play in the No. 3 single spot last year.
Junior Evan Balmain and Ryan Recalde return from a trip to the league quarterfinals in doubles last season. They’ve regularly played together so far, but Balmain has also played with Boxall.
Balmain and Boxall made the finals at Spring Smash.
Cedeno and Kim have been playing No. 3 doubles to open the year.
Valencia is off to a 4-5 start on the year.
“(It’s) definitely going to be a growing year for us,” Azevedo said. “We’re definitely new and young and all those things.” But she likes where they’re headed. “We’re a great team for being young and for as many changes as we’ve had,” she said.
Hart
The Indians (2-6) gave some teams trouble with their doubles lineup last year. This time their strength looks to be in singles.
Hart returns senior and No. 1 single Sam Delgado, while adding 2015 doubles players Zack Killian (senior) and Jay Spendlove (senior) to the group.
Indians head coach Allan Hardbarger said both Killian and Spendlove have made a smooth transition to singles.
Killian made the league doubles semifinals playing with graduated-senior Shane Hazard.
“We’re definitely going to have to rely on singles more this year,” Hardbarger said. “We have a lot of experience with my three singles players.”
The No. 1 doubles team is senior Kyle Papayoanou and junior Andrew Erwin. They’re followed by the No. 2 team of junior Chad Thompson and sophomore Daniel LaForteza.
Four players are in the mix for the No. 3 doubles team.
The Indians finished third in league last season at 6-4 (10-9 overall). They lost in the first round of playoffs to Diamond Bar.
Saugus
The Centurions (5-1) return every starter from a fourth-place league finish in 2015. They’ll count on that experience, and individual improvement, to be more competitive in 2016.
No. 2 single Erin Pang has “improved tremendously,” head coach Ken Jeffris said.
“His serve is so much better,” Jeffris said. “His court awareness is his strongest point.”
He’ll slide in behind No. 1 single Alex Koek, a senior who made the second round of Spring Smash on Saturday.
Returning senior Ryan Bannerman rounds out the group.
Senior Anthony Miller and junior James Phan are the No. 1 doubles team at the moment, with the pairing of sophomore Brighten Wan and Gerard Elepano nipping at their heels.
The No. 3 doubles team consists of seniors Jason Lee and Alex Lopez.
Golden Valley
There are family connections in sports across the Santa Clarita Valley. But the Grizzlies’ No. 1 doubles team of senior Jared Morrow and freshman Dylan Yu has two especially good connections in the SCV tennis community.
Jared Morrow is the older brother of West Ranch No. 1 single Noah Morrow. And Yu is the younger brother of former Golden Valley star Brandon Yu.
The No. 2 doubles team consists of seniors Joseph Park and Brian Liem. And the No. 3 team is made up of seniors Andrew Chang and Jason Corbin.
The No. 1 single is Elliot Kong. He played No. 1 doubles last year.
No. 2 single Nathan Ho, a junior, is also a returner, and he’s joined by newcomer Tyler Williams at No. 3.
A key, head coach Josh Stimac said, will be the Grizzlies’ grit.
“We have a lot of guys that are willing to fight to win,” he said.
Golden Valley is 3-3 entering league play, where it will try and improve on a fourth-place finish a year ago.
Canyon
The Cowboys (1-5) return their No. 1 and No. 2 singles players from last season, with the hope that they, along with the rest of the lineup, will lift Canyon past last year’s 0-10 league campaign.
No. 1 single Daniel Garcia won his first two matchups at Spring Smash, before falling to Noah Morrow 6-1, 6-2. Canyon head coach Rich Bristow said that Garcia and No. 2 single David Preciado give the Cowboys stability.
“We know what we’re getting and (Garcia) has gotten better than last year. He played well last year, but he’s gotten even better,” Bristow said.
He added that Preciado is playing at a higher level as well.
Senior Coby Rebhun rounds out the singles.
The No. 1 doubles team didn’t start together, but junior Christian Cabaong and senior Jonathan Karunaratne clicked at a preleague match and haven’t looked back.
The final two doubles teams aren’t set, Bristow said.