Boys tennis: CdM has a Ball in PCL singles

Richard Dunn

IRVINE - Amid the glitz and glamour of Corona del Mar High boys

tennis, CdM sophomore standout Cameron Ball joined an elite group

Wednesday in the Pacific Coast League finals at the Racquet Club of

Irvine.

For only the third time since 1990, and the second since Tim Mang took

over as the Sea Kings’ coach in 1993, a Corona del Mar player captured a

league singles championship.

Ball, who started to roll at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament last week,

defeated the PCL’s top-seeded player in the semifinals, University’s Jack

Li, then beat the No. 3 seed, Uni’s Aaron Yovan, in the finals, 6-2, 6-7

(6-8), 6-3.

“I wanted to prove that I should’ve been seeded, even though I had a

broken finger,” said Ball, who had 34 service winners in the final and

became the first Sea King since freshman Taylor Dent in 1996 to win a

league singles championship (CdM’s Dave Bain won a Sea View League title

in 1992).

The 6-foot-1 Ball missed 2 1/2 weeks in March because of a broken left

thumb, but also pulled a calf muscle this season and has suffered through

continuous growing pains in his legs, forcing him to stretch between

sets.

“With my legs and hips, everything gets way off whack, especially on

those hard courts,” said Ball, whose father, Syd, is a former Australian

touring pro and longtime tennis instructor in Newport Beach.

Last week at Ojai, Ball, playing in the CIF boys 18s, upset No. 2 seeded

Nick Weiss of Calabasas in the second round, then won another huge match

Tuesday in the PCL championships when he knocked off Uni’s Henry Mak, the

fourth seed.

“This is the biggest win of all,” Ball said of his three-set win over

Yovan in the finals. “But if felt good to knock off all three of (Uni’s)

top players.

“I’ve had a little spurt, and I’m trying to keep it going.”

Uni defeated CdM twice in league competition to claim the PCL crown, and

Ball lost to Yovan, 6-1, in his only prior appearance against the Trojan

sophomore.

“I like being the underdog,” said Ball, who also lost to Yovan three

years ago in a junior tournament in San Diego.

But Ball, much like Dent in his freshman season four years ago, is

developing quick physically, sort of a work in progress for a top tennis

player.

“Taylor starting growing a lot early that year (‘96), then all of the

sudden at the end of the year ...,” added Mang, referring to Dent’s

eventual CIF Southern Section singles title. Dent is now on the men’s pro

Futures circuit.

In the final, Ball won the first set easily, starting the match with

three straight service winners.

In the second set, Ball was ahead in the tiebreaker, 5-2, but Yovan came

back with four consecutive points, then won, 8-6, to send matters into a

third set.

“(Yovan) played some pretty tough points on my serve (during the

tiebreak),” Ball said. “It was back and forth the whole way. I was just

lucky to come out on top.”

Ball broke Yovan in the first game of the third set to establish the

tone, then remained ahead one break until the ninth and final game, when

he finished the match with an overhead smash at the net.

In the other semifinal, Yovan defeated CdM junior Brian Morton, 3-6, 6-4,

6-3. Morton, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, played No. 1 singles for the

Sea Kings this season, while Ball played No. 2.