Second-Seeded Cerritos Falls to Sage Hill Boys in Tennis Semifinals

Coach AG Longoria had been here before. His Sage Hill boys tennis program was knocking on the door of what would be their first appearance in a CIF Southern Section division final.

Last season, Sage Hills sufferd a heartbreaking loss to Rowland on games, 81-80, in the semifinals. Now here the third-seeded Lightning were again, this time facing second-seeded Cerritos in the semifinals of the Division III playoffs.

Longoria's team vanquished the demons of years past by upsetting the Suburban League champions, 11-7, Tuesday at to advance to the program's first section finals match in school history.

Sage Hill had never been able to defeat Cerritos in five prior attempts, twice losing to the Dons in the playoff quarterfinals.

“We felt all along that this was the best team in CIF,” Longoria said of Cerritos after the match. “This is the first time we’ve beaten Cerritos and that makes this one really, really special.”

The Lightning utilized a strong doubles lineup to combat a singles-heavy Cerritos team. Sage Hill won eight of nine doubles sets. The No. 1 doubles team of Alex Manolakos and Kevin Marshack swept their sets, defeating Terry Oh and Roy Yoon, 6-2; Karteek Tavarageri and Roger Pak, 6-1, and Kevin Cheng and Andy Tang, 6-2.

Marshack, a senior, remembers the previous meeting between these teams and spoke of the victory in terms of revenge. “I was on the bench in my sophomore year and I watched as we were beaten by Cerritos on games two years ago,” he said.

The Lightning’s No. 2 doubles team of Andrew Kurzweil and Ryan Lee also completed a sweep of its sets, including the match-clinching 6-4 victory over Oh and Yoon. Kurzweil and Lee beat Tavarageri and Pak, 6-1, and Cheng and Tang, 6-3.

Rounding out doubles for Sage Hill were Sean Batten and Eric Magliarditi, who scored victories over Tavarageri and Pak, 6-0, and Cheng and Tang, 6-4. Oh and Yoon salvaged a tie-break win over Batten and Magliarditi, pumping life back into a Cerritos squad that had lost the first round 4-2. The lone doubles win for the Dons narrowed the Sage Hill lead to 6-5 with one match left in the second round.

Sage Hill received a crucial victory from junior Robbe Simon, as he defeated Pilki Min, 6-3, in a battle of players that advanced to the third round of the CIF Individuals last week. Simon’s victory evened the second round at 3-3, allowing the Lightning to keep their two-match advantage heading into the final round.

“I just kept telling myself it’s either success or go home,” said Simon of his victory over Cerritos' top player.

Sage Hill’s No. 1 and No. 3 doubles got on the board early in the third round, giving the Lightning nine set wins and ensuring that the match would go down to games, at worst. And it appeared as if worse would come to worst when Cerritos’ Ganesh Alagappan broke Simon to take a 5-4 lead in his set. Cerritos was leading the remaining three sets late with the match still in the balance, but Kurzweil and Lee battled back from being down 4-3 to defeat Oh and Yoon and send the Lightning to the finals.

“You’re in a town with Newport Harbor and Corona Del Mar,” said Longoria, excited to be stealing some headlines from his rival programs. “We deserve to win because we train the hardest.”

Simon eventually rallied to defeat Alagappan, 7-5, giving Sage Hill its 11th and final set of the day.

Nasier Emtiaz and Denis Cirit started in singles for the Lightning, but neither was able to win a set against a singles-dominant Cerritos squad.

The win was very gratifying for Kurzweil, who still looks back on the disappointment of last year as a source of motivation. “They [Rowland] won 15-3 in the finals and that could’ve been us,” said Kurzweil of how close his team was to a title last season. “We had been feeling this one for a while.”

 Sage Hill will face Valencia High from Placentia in the finals Wednesday at the Claremont Club after Valencia defeated Academy League rival St. Margaret’s on games, 81-76.

“You can only be the best team if you win,” said Cerritos coach Chris Chutikorn after his team was eliminated from the playoffs. “They put the ball on the court more than us, and I think they have a good chance against Valencia.”