Lancers' perfect season continues

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers SMASHING SUCCESS—Thousand Oaks High sophomore Marcos Giron hits a forehand return during his match Tuesday against Newbury Park's William Duncan. After falling behind early, Giron rallied to beat Duncan. With the team victory, TOHS improved its Marmonte League record to 9-0. There were a few tense moments during Tuesday's boys' tennis match between Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park high schools.

Playing without one of their top singles stars, Kyle McMorrow, several Lancers appeared a bit nervous halfway through the match as Newbury Park did its best to challenge the Marmonte League's premier program.

In the end, however, Thousand Oaks' talent was too much for the Panthers to overcome, as TOHS logged a 13-5 victory to push its record to 11-0 overall and 9-0 in league.

The Panthers, in a dogfight for one of the Marmonte's final playoff spots, dropped to 8-6, 4-5 in the Marmonte.

TOHS head coach Dave Assorson said he was particularly pleased with the play of his doubles teams, which had to be shuffled because of the absence of Tyler Bridges, typically a No. 1 doubles player.

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE—Newbury Park's William Duncan reaches for a shot during his battle with Thousand Oaks' Marcos Giron during Tuesday's match at TOHS. Giron prevailed, 7-5. Of the nine doubles sets played on the afternoon, Thousand Oaks won seven of them, including a 6-1, 6-0, 6-1 sweep from Matt Skwaruzynski and Brendon Josephson.

"Matt and Brendon played their normal game, which means playing very well," Assorson said.

The Lancers' doubles teams of Ben Moon and Michael Kunisaki, as well as Greg Wise and Bobby Kane, each won two out of three sets.

"They all played well," the coach said. "Two out of three for those teams is not a bad day at all."

Earlier in the season, Newbury Park lost to TOHS by an 18-0 score, so Tuesday's result had to be viewed as a step in the right direction for the Panthers and their longtime head coach, Brad Nelson.

Nelson was particularly pleased with the singles play of sophomore William Duncan and the doubles effort from Justin Sauer and Nick Sweetman.

Although Duncan only won one of three sets, he pushed Thousand Oaks' Marcos Giron, one of the most talented players in the area, to the brink during a compelling 5-7 loss.

"Duncan played very well," Nelson said. "It's a shame he didn't beat Marcos because he had a great chance."

Leading 3-2 and 5-4, the fiery Duncan just couldn't put Giron away on a sweltering day at TOHS.

"I was serving well," Duncan said. "I was getting my first serve in for the first time in about two weeks.

"I've played Giron a couple times before, and he just killed me on my returns. I just couldn't get the ball back in against him. This time I knew I had to get in as many balls as possible and just play patient. It all came down to serves and returns."

Following the setback to Giron, Duncan defeated T.O.'s Alex Johnson, the reigning league MVP, 6-0. Sean Huxley, another solid singles player for NPHS, also put Johnson away, this time by a 6-3 score. David Yoo, the Panthers' No. 3 in singles, slipped past Johnson, 7-5.

In addition to Sauer and Sweetman, Kris Leslie and Austin Hymes also won one of three doubles matches for Newbury Park.

One player who had very little trouble getting through the afternoon unscathed was Lancer senior Denis Lin. The talented ball-striker blew through the competition by scores of 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0.

"I pretty much just came out and had fun," Lin said. "The first guy I played (Duncan) was tough. With his serve, he made the first few games tough on me."

Both teams played league matches Wednesday, but final scores weren't available prior to press time.

With the playoffs on the horizon, Nelson said his squad, because of its remaining schedule, is in a solid position to earn the league's third postseason seed.

Newbury Park has already played second-place Calabasas and first-place Thousand Oaks twice. The Panthers still have a big showdown against Westlake looming, and that match could easily determine third and fourth place, Nelson said.

Thousand Oaks, ranked No. 2 in the latest CIF-Southern Section Division I coaches' poll, knows they have an excellent shot at claiming the school's first section banner in boys' tennis.

Lin, in fact, said anything short of a CIF title would be a major disappointment.

"There are going to a lot of close matches in the playoffs," Lin said. "Our doubles teams will have to perform. If they don't play at their best, we'll have a tough time winning it all."

Armed with the deepest, most talented roster of his coaching career, Assorson is downright giddy about his team's chances to bring home a section championship.

"This is, by far, the most encouraging year I've ever had," Assorson said. "We know we have a team that can compete at the highest level."