Friday’s Pac-12 Men’s Semifinals
Here’s what happened: No. 4 seed California notched a historic upset over top-seeded UCLA and No. 2 USC came up clutch against No. 3 Stanford in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Men’s Tennis Championships on Friday. Cal and USC move onto the finals match Saturday to be played at Libbey Park and televised on Pac-12 Network at 3 p.m.
Friday’s Pac-12 Women’s Semifinals
Here’s what happened: For the second straight year, No. 1 seed Stanford and No. 2 UCLA will meet for the Pac-12 Women’s Tennis Championship as both teams advanced through the semifinals at Weil Tennis Academy on Friday. The Cardinal swept No. 4 USC, 4-0, while the Bruins outlasted No. 3 Washington, 4-3. Saturday’s title match is set for 12 noon.
Men’s and Women’s Open Division Semifinals Set
Note: All matches at Ojai Valley Inn
MEN’S ROUNDUP: Unseeded former USC star Raymond Sarmiento beat high school senior and USC recruit Jacob Bullard of Calabasas, 6-4, 6-2, to advance to the semifinals on Saturday. He will face No. 4 seeded teenager Isaiah Strode, who needed three sets to beat Kent Hunter, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. In the other semifinal it will be No. 3 seed and former UCLA player Karue Sell, who downed Andrew Baird, who won one point but was then forced to retire because of a hip injury he sustained during the quarterfinals on Friday. Sell will face Philip Bester in the other semi. Bester has been a runner-up singles finalist the past two years and won the singles title in 2015.
WOMEN’S ROUNDUP: The top-seeded and defending champion Hanna Chang of Fontana was upset by high school senior Alexa Ryngler of Calabasas, 6-1, 6-3. 2018 Ojai Girls’ 18s champion and USC recruit Eryn Cayetano will be Ryngler’s semifinal opponent today at 9 a.m. at the Ojai Valley Inn. In the other semifinal it will be former NCAA team champion from the University of Florida Allie Will against No. 2 seed Mahak Jain of San Jose.
Prize money breakdown is as follows for the singles and is same for the women (except no money for quarterfinalists in singles and semis in doubles because of draw size):
Winner, $5,300; finalist $2,600; semifinalist $1,000; quarterfinalist $500. Doubles team: Winner, $2,400; finalist $1,200; semifinalists $600
Men’s Division III West Regional
Singles and doubles play opened in the Men’s Division III West Regional division on Friday, and the big question is whether Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the No. 1 ranked team in NCAA Division III, will give the rest of the field a chance. CMS, which has reigned over this division in recent years, submitted only two players towards this week’s Ojai. However, they are Julian Gordy and Nikolai Parodi. Parodi is the Ojai’s defending Division III singles champ, and the pair are the defending Ojai doubles champion and top seed this year. Parodi won two singles matches including a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Redlands’ Thomas Reznik to reach Saturday’s quarterfinals. After conceding one game in a straight-set, first-round win, Caltech’s top-seeded Varun Shanker rebounded from a slow start to oust Occidental’s David Zhang, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals. Pomona-Pitzer’s Jed Kronenberg, the No. 2 seed and 2018 Ojai runner-up in the division, endured through a 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) first-round win over UC Santa Cruz’s Ryan Dugan and a 6-7, 6-3, 6-0 grudge match against Caltech’s James Wei to survive and advance into the quarters. In doubles, Parodi and Gordy downed Thomas Reznik and Andrew Yip, from SCIAC rival Redlands, 8-2. Redlands’ Brad Cummins and Brysl Libao were upset from the No. 2 seed perch, 8-3, by Cal Lutheran’s Ransom Braaten and Jake Haffner, and Shanker and Wei (No. 3 seed) were upended by Pomona-Pitzer’s Kronenberg and Joshua Gearou, 8-6, which really opens up a path for Parodi and Gordy to repeat as Ojai doubles champions.
Women’s Division III Invitational
Caltech’s Kana Moriyama advanced to Saturday’s Women’s Division III Invitational singles and doubles semifinals, seeded third in each bracket. Moriyama defeated Cal Lutheran’s Nicole Alvarez, 6-3, 7-5, in Friday’s quarterfinal and is surrounded by three semifinalists from Trinity University (Texas), the ranked No. 19 in NCAA Division III and making their debut at The Ojai. Moriyama teamed with Anna Tifrea to beat Chapman’s Nicole Fouts and Vasilisa Trofimova, 6-2, 6-1, in a quarterfinal. Caltech, ranked No. 18 in NCAA Division III, has never won a title at The Ojai. Trinity’s Zoe and Mary Kaffen are the top seeded semifinalists matched up with Cal Lutheran’s Alvarez and Lilijana Semak – 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3) quarterfinal winners over UC Santa Cruz’s Isabelle Brown and Ashley Isaac – and also are alive in the singles draw along with top-seeded teammate Caroline Kutach, who has only lost four games through three matches.
CCCAA Individual State Championships
The brackets of 128 are down to eight in the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Individual State singles and doubles championships. Irvine Valley’s Lescek Mirecki unseated top-seeded Younes Kodiji, of American River, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to Saturday’s all-Southern California quarterfinals. Mirecki joins teammate Julia Lafond in the quarters, which also feature two players from newly-minted State champion College of the Desert (No. 2 Kalman Boyd and No. 4 Alex Kuperstein) and Cerritos (Arthur Toledo and Jan Simon). Boyd and Kuperstein yielded three games across two straight-set wins Friday to advance to the CCCAA doubles quarterfinals, and Toledo and Cerritos teammate Bruno Duarte are also in the doubles quarters after having lost just six games in two matches on Friday. Wednesday’s CCCAA State team champion Orange Coast College placed three women in Saturday’s quarterfinals including Nicole Knickerbocker, who dispatched American River’s top-seeded Eva Spindler, who retired after losing the first set and first game of the second set in the Round-of-16 matchup. The Pirates’ Miri Inoue and Shayee Sherif are also still alive. Inoue-Knickerbocker and Sherif and Camryn Mason advanced to the doubles quarterfinals along with Cerritos’ Moa Lindstrom, teamed with Alba Gonzalez in doubles, is also a singles and doubles quarterfinalist. Spindler, a 2018 CCCAA State doubles finalist at The Ojai, is back in Saturday’s quarterfinals as the top seed with Haley Van Orman following a pair of straight-set victories on Friday.
CIF Boys’ Quarterfinal Results
Note: The semifinals will both be today at noon at Thacher School with both the singles and doubles finals at Libbey Park at 6 p.m.
SINGLES: Henry Lovett (Palisades) d. Ian Freer (St. Francis), 6-4, 5-7, 7-5
Wally Thayne (Newbury Park, Calif.) d. Tim Dzhurinskiy (Mira Costa), 6-3, 7-5
Brett Brinkman (Chaminade) d. Harry Yang (Northwood-Irvine), 6-3, 6-4
Aditya Gupta (University-Irvine) d. Jiaxi Ma (Woodbridge-Irvine), 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
DOUBLES: Brady/Holt (Palos Verdes) d. Lam/Sherwood (Westlake), 6-3, 6-2
Arkow/Dickson (Harvard-Westlake) d. Angeli/Wolfe (San Clemente), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(1)
Poh/Sillman (Mira Costa) d. Lucero/Pinson (Troy), 6-1, 6-0
Sah/Talluri (Torrey Pines) d. Blando/Blando (Rancho Bernardo), 6-3, 6-1
Boys’ 16s Quarterfinal Results
Nikola Kuraica d. (2) Ryan Morgan, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3))
(3) Ryan Torres d. (5) Soomin Lee, 4-3Ret (inj)
(5) Gianluca Brunkow d. (4) Tristan Messerli, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
(1) Sebastian Gorzny d. (5) Haktan Garayev, 6-1, 6-1
Boys’ 14s Quarterfinal Results
(5) Hayze Loop d. (1) Lucas Coriat, Wd
(2) Steve Nguyen d. (5) Nathan Tam, 6-3, 7-6
(5) Emmett Potter d. (9) Lance Morgan, 6-3, 6-4
(9) Carson Lee d. (9) Kenan Rizvanbegovic, 6-3, 6-4
Girls’ 18s Round of 16 Results
(2) Zoe Olmos d. Sophia Amato, 6-0, 6-1
(5) Ava Frisina d. Chloe Blakey, 6-1, 6-3
(3) Madelyn Ferreros d. Roxanne Mackenzie, Wd (inj)
Ireland Amato d. Madisen Olsen, 6-2, 6-2
(5) Sarah Olmos d. Bella Nguyen , 6-4, 6-3
(4) Fatima El Ashram d. Audrey Vo, 6-2, 6-0
(5) Natalie Duffy d. Cristina Solorzano Valencia, 6-2, 6-1
(1) Lucinda Gatsiounis d. Yukina Abe, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
Girls’ 16s Round of 16 Results
(2) Jenna Sabile d. (9) Sarah MacCallum, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
(5) Isabella Foshee d. Vini Margaret Bautista, 7-6(3), 2-1Ret (inj)
(5) Kaia Wolfe d. (9) Makenna Barrett, 6-4, 6-0
(5) Emma Sun d. Devyn Marinos , 6-3, 6-2
(3) Jane Lee d. (9) Victoria Aguirre, Wo (ill)
(5) Alexis Golin d. Brooke Andrews, 7-5, 6-3
(1) Velizara Fileva d. (9) Marissa Markey, 6-2, 6-2
Girls’ 14s Round of 16 Results
(2) Ginger Foster d. Kennedy Robinson, 6-3, 6-1
(9) Essence Wang d. (5) Quin Brady, 7-5, 6-4
(3) Isabella Asenov d. (9) Rachel Lee, 7-6(0), 7-0
(5) Julianne Nguyen d. Shannon Roberts, 6-3, 6-0
(5) Stacey Samonte d. (9) Hana McKinney, 6-2, 7-5
(9) Krisha Mahendran d. (4) Grace Gamal, 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-6(5)
(5) Jessica MacCallum d. Amber Wey, 6-2, 6-2
(1) Carla Pacot d. Isabella Bringas. 6-1, 6-1F