Braemar Summer Jr. Satellite

Well, it's been another successful week for Thorpe Tennis. The weather was warm and some played quite a few matches in the Braemar Satellite one-weekend tournament. By the end of the weekend, the group was able to bring home the runner-up trophy in the Boys' 14's age-group, and the champions' trophy in Boys' 16's doubles. Here's how it happend:

On Friday evening, Ben Furukawa started off the weekend with a three-set victory in the 16's age-group, followed closely by a 6-0, 6-0 win from Tristan Prinz in the 14's. Alex Shirokow-Louden also had a strong win in the 16's age-group. Eddie Conk, playing in his first tournament in years, drew a seed in the first round and struggled to find his usual form under tournament conditions, but took a philosophical approach to the match and now looks to improve his groundstroke fluidity before the next tournament.

Play on Saturday began bright and early with a quick win from Prinz and another three-set victory from Furukawa. Shirokow-Louden nearly pulled off an upset against a strong player, winning the first set and holding two match-points before losing his Round of 16 match in the third set. Shirokow-Louden was playing in his first tournament, and though the loss was frustrating, he was happy to have the experience under his belt and now looks forward to several tournaments in July. Later in the day, Ben Furukawa ran up against stiff competition, but Tristan Prinz dismissed his quarterfinal opponent in short order before the two combined for a doubles win in the boys' 16's.

On the final day of play, Prinz opened up with a fine performance against a strong opponent. Play was tight, but Prinz gave no ground and eventually won several close games to finish out the first set and demoralize his opponent. In the second set, Prinz continued to break down his opponents game and took the second set 6-1, earning himself a berth in the Finals.

The Boys' 14's Final was played with great intensity and by the end of the first set, the fatigue of six matches in 48 hours was beginning to take its toll on Prinz. After losing the first set 6-3 and falling behind in the second, he made one last go at leveling the match, reaching 4-4 before succumbing to exhaustion and a strong opponent in the heat of the day. There would be retribution, however, as Prinz and Furukawa teamed up to win the Boys' 16's Doubles Final by a score of 6-1, 6-2.

Thorpe Tennis will next be in action at the Jack Kramer Northridge tournament July 11th-15th.

Laguna Blanca Boys' Tennis Ends 7-Year Drought

Today, for the first time since 2004, the Laguna Blanca Boys' Tennis Team defeated the Thacher School in a very close match. Troy Ritter (Thorpe Tennis) swept his singles matches and the doubles duo of Alex Greer and Alex Shirokow-Louden (both also from Thorpe Tennis) won all three in doubles.

However, the day was not won without a battle. Justin Shand (Thorpe Tennis) and senior Ian Carradine took a win at number three doubles, but after losing two close sets in tie-breakers, the score was 3-3 through the first round. In the second round, Laguna and Thacher again traded blows, ending deadlocked at 6-6 after two rounds.

Laguna came out swinging in the final round, with Benji Sorensen and Tristan Prinz (Thorpe Tennis, pictured above) collecting quick wins in singles, and the doubles combinations of Alex Greer/ Alex Shirokow-Louden (pictured left) and Ben Furukawa/Eddie Conk (all from Thorpe Tennis) picking up the tie and go-ahead wins in doubles.

With a final score of 11-7, the Owls ended an 11-match, 7-year losing streak against Thacher, and took an important step towards it's season goals. The first of two goals was to finish the season with a winning record, which is now guaranteed. The second goal is to reach the playoffs, which is still possible if Laguna pulls out the upset at Dunn this coming Wednesday.

For now though, I am so very proud of the players I work with privately at Thorpe Tennis and the rest of the guys on the team for their excellent performance today. Big thanks are also due to the players' parents, without whose support none of this would be possible. Look out Condor League, there's a new team in town!



Watching Alex & Alex pick up their third win of the day




Joe Davies, Justin Palmer, and Chris Burke made the trip out
to support the team. Thanks guys!




The owls watching the last two matches on court




Three generations of Conk celebrate the Laguna win



Laguna parents and players out in numbers to seal the victory

Braemar Junior Satellite

This weekend marks the first of what I hope will be many tournament trips with my high school tennis students. The Braemar Junior Satellite was attended by Marina Narain, Mady Snider, and Troy Ritter all of whom posted some impressive results.

Troy was competing in his first USTA tournament and won his first match in the B16's division with a score of 6-3, 6-1. Later Saturday evening, he played a tough match against eventual champion Jeremy Wacker and fell 6-4, 6-3.

Troy was happy to have the experience under his belt and looks forward to more success as he transitions from basketball to tennis season this week for the Laguna Blanca Owls.

Marina Narain was another first time USTA tournament player this weekend, and she is off to an impressive start. Over the weekend, Marina won four matches en-route to winning the G16's division. She began her tournament with a close three-set match against the top seeded player in her draw and continued to build confidence in the following matches.

Mady Snider is no stranger to the USTA junior circuit, but it's been a while since she's been a regular. With a renewed sense of purpose, Mady took out the top seed in her draw with a barrage of winners and followed that win with another Sunday evening to win the G18's tournament. She looks forward to building confidence in her rally-ball in preparation for the next tournament trip, where we will be headed to Santa Monica.

Thorpe Tennis finished the Braemar JR Satellite with a 7-1 match record and will next be in action at the Dudley Cup the first two weekends of April.