CLAREMONT – Harvard-Westlake and University High of Irvine have battled several times during the past 15 years in CIF-Southern Section boys tennis finals, including May 16 in the Open Division championship match at the University of Redlands.
But two of the elite programs in California prep history will square off for the first time in the Southern California Regional final at 1:30 p.m. PST Saturday at the Claremont Club, as the top two regional seeds both earned the opportunity to compete for the title following quarterfinal and semifinal victories Friday in the eight-team event.
University (27-1), the reigning state champion, is attempting to become the first program in Southern California Regional tournament history to win three consecutive titles.
University High from Irvine is pursuing a third straight Southern California Regional boys tennis title and fifth in program history | Photo courtesy of University
The Trojans, who are seeking their fifth regional crown overall including titles in 2013 and 2014, produced a 7-0 quarterfinal triumph Friday against Buchanan and a 5-2 semifinal win over Peninsula.
Harvard-Westlake (12-3) is pursuing a third regional championship, joining victories in 2018 and 2021.
The Southern California winner advances to the May 31 state final at Sierra Sport and Racquet Center in Fresno against either Menlo School (28-1) or California High from San Ramon (22-2), which compete at 1 p.m. Saturday in Folsom to determine the Northern California representative.
The Wolverines achieved a 7-0 quarterfinal win Friday against Torrey Pines, followed by a 6-1 semifinal triumph over Palisades.
Harvard-Westlake is also looking to atone for a 10-8 loss against University in the Open Division final, as the Trojans became the first program to win four straight championships in the top bracket since the playoffs expanded in 2019.
University High of Irvine defeated Harvard-Westlake 10-8 for its fourth consecutive CIF-Southern Section Open Division boys tennis title | Photo courtesy of University
The Wolverines secured the first three points in the semifinals against Palisades, with Gideon Ames earning a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 3 singles over Dash Hansford, followed by Aaron Chung prevailing at No. 4 singles by a 6-2, 6-1 margin against Rocco Weinberg and the No. 3 doubles pair of Arya Fattahi and Matt Reiter achieving a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Teddy Brained and Zach Stuffmann.
Lorenzo Brunkow, a UC Santa Barbara signee, triumphed 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles for Palisades against Aiden Zadeh.
Zack Figlin clinched the fourth point for the Wolverines with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles against Owen Chin Rust.
Harvard-Westlake remained unbeaten in doubles on the day, as Andrew Esrailian and Elliot Meth won 7-5, 6-2 against Max May and Zac Cohen at the No. 2 pairing, before the No. 1 tandem of Christian Stubbeman and Connor Yang outlasted Neel Joshi and Caleb Scott by a 7-5, 7-5 margin to close out the match.
The Wolverines collected seven doubles wins in the section final against University and are pursuing a sweep Saturday against the Trojans in the regional championship.
University prevailed in all four singles matches in Friday’s semifinals against Peninsula, and the Trojans didn’t even have Ojai boys CIF champion Rishvanth Krishna in the lineup.
Human Alajeely produced a 6-0, 6-2 triumph at No. 3 singles against George Bessho, Ji Hyuk Im achieved a 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 1 over Nathan Soeng, and Arystarkh Len earned the fourth point for University with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2 against Aaron Luo.
Daniel Zhu completed the singles sweep for the Trojans in the final match with a 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 4 singles over Evan Chien.
Peninsula had Eddie Feuer and Max Roca secure a 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 1 doubles against Tyler Chandler and Reid Hashimoto, with seniors Nobu Hanawa and James Lai rallying to win 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) at No. 3 doubles over Arjun Appa and Evan Zhong.
University’s lone doubles point came from the No. 2 pairing of Joseph Chan and Cedric Lichtsteiner, who were victorious by a 6-4, 6-4 margin against Colin Bringas and Kaito Kuba.
The Trojans won all seven matches in straight sets against Buchanan, as Im, Len, Alajeely and Zhu prevailed in singles, with Chandler and Hashimoto, plus Chan and Lichtsteiner, along with Appa and Zhong all victorious in doubles.
Harvard-Westlake also didn’t drop a set in its seven matches against Torrey Pines, with Autrin Anousheh winning at No. 4 singles to join Stubbeman, Yang and Ames.
Meth and Zadeh triumphed at No. 1 doubles, Fattahi and Reiter earned the point at the No. 2 pairing, and Miller Levin teamed up with Chung at the No. 3 tandem for the Wolverines.
The most exciting match of the quarterfinals highlighted Palisades outlasting JSerra for a 4-3 victory.
The Dolphins led 3-1 behind a No. 2 doubles victory from Joshi and Stuffmann, in addition to singles wins at the top two spots from Brunkow and Chin Rust.
But JSerra, which already received an early point from Cade Faul at No. 3 singles, rallied with three-set victories from Kayden Kral at No. 4 singles by a 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 margin against Weinberg, as well as Brady Schaefgen and Charlie Vogel at No. 1 doubles with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 triumph over May and Scott to pull even at 3-3.
Palisades had Brained and Cohen step up at No. 3 doubles to produce a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory against Hansford Warner and Hudson Aase in the final match to help the Dolphins advance to the semifinals.
Peninsula reached the semifinals with a 5-2 win against Canyon Crest Academy, the last program to defeat University in a regional final in 2022.
Bessho, Roca and Soeng all secured singles victories for the Panthers, with Bringas and Chien prevailing at No. 1 doubles, as well as Kuba and Luo winning in three sets at the No. 2 pairing.
Canyon Crest Academy received a three-set triumph at No. 1 singles from Aditya Khanna against Feuer, with Calvin Karlander and Julius Toda earning a point at No. 3 doubles by knocking off Hanawa and Lai.