Harrison and Lenaway win Valley League doubles title

Fallbrook High School juniors Declan Harrison and Riley Lenaway captured the league doubles championship at the Valley League individual boys tennis tournament held in May at the Riviera Oaks courts in Ramona, the Fallbrook Tennis Club, and at Adams Park in Valley Center.

"I was happy with the way we performed all across the board in league finals," said Fallbrook coach Bill Lenaway.

Five Valley League singles players and five Valley League doubles teams qualified for the CIF tournament. Two other Fallbrook tandems placed high enough at the league tournament to qualify for the CIF doubles tournament: senior John David Lopez and junior Erik Garcia also reached the semifinals before settling for fourth place, and juniors Max Alperstein and Casey Eich won two tiebreaking games for the fifth-place berth.

The CIF tournament singles contingent included Fallbrook sophomore Brett Johnson, who placed fourth in the league competition.

"It's great," Bill Lenaway said of Fallbrook's CIF qualifiers.

Harrison and Riley Lenaway were given the top seed and began league competition with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Valley Center sophomores Alek Archipov and Robert Parsons. The Fallbrook tandem then defeated Ramona netters Alessio Macias and Chris Murgueia in a pair of 6-0 sets.

Lopez and Garcia had a 6-0, 7-5 victory in the first round against Orange Glen opposition Bishoy Girgis and Mina Habbib, and then took a 7-5, 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Brian Morningstar and Michael Carvajal from Valley Center.

That placed two Fallbrook duos against each other in the semifinals. Harrison and Lenaway defeated Lopez and Garcia in a pair of 6-0 sets.

Lopez and Garcia would also lose a 6-3, 6-0 match in the battle for third place with Ramona seniors Kellen Rolling and Tristan Wall, who were seeded third.

"They played a really good team," Bill Lenaway said. "They were no match."

In the final Harrison and Riley Lenaway faced second-seeded Joseph Stehly and Jake Stehly from Valley Center and won the doubles championship with 6-4 and 7-5 victories.

Alperstein and Eich won a 6-1, 6-3 match against Valley Center juniors Chris Conaway and Mark Villalobos in the first round.

Rolling and Wall needed three sets to defeat Alperstein and Eich in the quarterfinals. The first set was tied at five games apiece before Rolling and Wall won the next two games for a 7-5 victory. The second set was tied at six games apiece, which triggered a tiebreaking game to seven points with a winning margin of at least two points. Rolling and Wall won the tiebreaking game by an 8-6 score. That set up a one-game tiebreaker to ten points, and Rolling and Wall took a 10-6 victory in that winner-take-all game.

Each school is allowed four singles players and four doubles teams in the tournament, although Orange Glen only had three singles players so Fallbrook was given a fifth competitor. Fallbrook's fourth doubles team consisted of juniors Charlie Bickel and Jacob Oatman. Bickel and Oatman won their first-round match against their Orange Glen opponents by a 6-2, 6-0 score. The Stehly brothers won their quarterfinals match against Bickel and Oatman by 6-0 and 6-1 margins.

"They did a really good job," Bill Lenaway said of Bickel and Oatman.

The quarterfinals losers vied for fifth place through two rounds of playoff games to eight points. In the first round, Alperstein and Eich won an 8-6 game over Macias and Murgueia while Bickel and Oatman lost to Carvajal and Morningstar. Alperstein and Eich won the battle for the final CIF doubles berth with an 8-5 victory over Carvajal and Morningstar.

"They were basically solid all year," Lenaway said of Alperstein and Eich. "When they got together they played pretty well."

Lopez had played singles for most of the 2016 season and had not been paired in doubles with Garcia prior to the league tournament. Alperstein and Eich frequently had different doubles partners throughout the regular season. "Both teams adjusted," Lenaway said.

Johnson was seeded fourth in the singles portion of the tournament and commenced league play with a 6-0, 6-2 triumph over Orange Glen senior Matthew Tobar. Johnson then defeated his Valley Center opponent in 6-1 and 6-0 sets. That pitted Johnson against top-seeded Brandan Ruland, a Ramona sophomore who has yet to lose a set in Valley League play. Ruland's 6-0, 6-1 victory sent Johnson to the third-place match, which was captured by third-seeded Jonathan Glassell of Valley Center.

Lenaway noted that Johnson did not play competitive tennis until his freshman year.

"I think it's amazing," Lenaway said of Johnson reaching the semifinals. "He learned very quickly and worked really hard."

Fallbrook sophomore Stephen Shedd advanced out of the first round when Ramona freshman Cody Crenshaw defaulted and then lost to Glassell in three sets. Glassell won the 6-1 first set and Shedd countered with a 6-4 victory in the second set. The tiebreaking game ended as a 10-5 Glassell victory.

Shedd opened the battle for fifth place with an 8-1 victory over his Valley Center counterpart, but lost an 8-2 contest to Valley Center sophomore A.J. Zamora for the final CIF berth.

"I thought it was a good result for him," Lenaway said of Shedd. "He played doubles almost all year."

Glassell defeated Fallbrook sophomore Abraham Ordonez in 6-0 and 7-5 sets during the first round. Ruland's first-round victory was a 6-0, 6-0 match against Fallbrook sophomore Drew Mings. Orange Glen senior Jaime Dominguez, who was seeded second, prevailed in 6-0 and 6-1 sets against Fallbrook freshman Noah Potraz in the first round.

"They did well," Lenaway said. "People who were supposed to win won."

Since Lopez was the only senior among the 13 Fallbrook players in the league tournament, Lenaway believes that the 2017 Warriors will benefit from this year's experience.

"They'll improve for sure," said Lenaway, who added the doubles experience will be especially helpful. "There's a lot of learning in the doubles."

Orange Glen is leaving the Valley League as are Oceanside and Mission Vista, which do not field boys tennis. Escondido and San Pasqual will be joining Fallbrook, Ramona, and Valley Center in the Valley League next year.

"We ought to be right in there," Lenaway said. "I'm hoping to be right there in the hunt."