Surging Breakers in CIF semis

CERRITOS “” Aaron Talarico looked at the score sheet near the end of Tuesday’s CIF Southern Section Division IV quarterfinal match, not really believing what he was reading.

“Our singles today, you’ve got to be kidding me,” the Laguna Beach coach said to nobody in particular.

It was supposed to be a close match at the Cerritos Sports Complex, possibly coming down to a game count. Instead, the Laguna Beach High boys’ tennis team posted a lopsided 15-3 victory over No. 3-seeded Whitney to advance to the CIF semifinals for the first time in 20 years.

The Breakers will play at home against No. 2-seeded Cate of Carpinteria on Tuesday, trying to advance to their first CIF final since 1983.

The singles were indeed particularly impressive against Whitney. Sophomore Jake Michaels, junior Chris Lavery and sophomore Benito Romeo set the tone early and never let up against the Academy League champion. They swept their nine sets with scores ranging from 6-0 to 6-2, losing just seven total games in those nine sets.

“I love the excitement, I love the energy,” said Michaels, who earned the triple-bagel by posting scores of 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. “One thing I really wanted to see was a lot of pumping up and a lot of energy, and we really had that today. Not even just singles ““ our doubles stepped it up too.

“Chris is playing really well, Benito’s playing really well. We’re improving at the right time. I’m real excited for what’s to come.”

Despite the final score, it was actually just 3-2 late in the first go-round, and the Breakers’ No. 1 doubles team of senior Rex Miller and junior Mikey Rubel were in a tight set against the Whitney No. 1 pairing of Adrian Wang and Chris Puiji.

But Miller and Rubel broke the Whitney duo at 4-4, then Miller served it out to give his team the 4-2 sets advantage going into the second go-round. There, the Breakers (15-7) took five of six sets to surge back into control.

“The first round is always the biggest round,” Miller said. “We knew we had to win that match. I don’t think we were warmed up all the way, so we came out kind of slow, but I’m glad that we finally pulled through.”

Miller and Rubel swept their three doubles sets, and Chris O’Connor and Hutton McKenna won two sets at No. 2 doubles. Alex Gromet and Hunter Moscow also subbed in and enthusiastically won a set at No. 3 doubles.

Michaels was particularly happy about his performance. After a lot of thought, he said he made the decision to attend a United States Tennis Assn. Nationals tournament in El Paso, Texas last weekend, rather than play at the Breakers’ second-round match at Buckley.

Michaels and partner Mason Radford of Escondito made it to the doubles quarterfinals of the tournament. The Breakers, meanwhile, narrowly defeated Buckley in their match, 11-7, behind sweeps from Lavery and No. 1 doubles.

“It was such a hard decision,” Michaels said. “I was losing sleep over it ... I had to do that, because my long-term goal is to play Division I at a big school. I’m glad that we got past that [Buckley match].

“I really wanted to show the team today that I’m here to play. Today was really for me to make up for missing last week, and I hope I did that with my results.”

Michaels, Lavery and the doubles team of Miller and Rubel also play today at CIF Individuals, at Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

As for the CIF semifinals, Laguna Beach may again be underdogs against Cate, but the Breakers seem to be peaking at the right time.

“We’ve grown a lot as a team,” Romeo said. “We’ve put a lot of effort into the season. I’m pretty sure we’ve worked harder than any other team here, and now all the hard work’s paying off.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at [email protected].