The Los Alamitos High boys tennis team reached the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern California Regional Team Championships before falling to third-seeded San Marino, 5-2, on Friday at The Claremont Club.
The Griffins had qualified for the event as the No. 11 seed out of 13 teams from Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego Counties. They topped the No. 12 team, El Camino Real, 7-0 in the opening round to move into the match with San Marino.
The Griffins were leading key matches early, but San Marino would rally to win the best-of-seven event. Los Al’s No. 1 Riley Smith dropped the first set against San Marino’s No. 1, Daniel Gealer, but rallied for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory in singles. Los Al’s No. 3 singles player, Kyle McCann had little trouble in his match, defeating San Marino’s Charles Deng, 6-2, 6-4.
In doubles, the Griffins’ No. 1 team of Naara Shin and Ethan Kolsky, had the San Marino No. 1 doubles team on the ropes early taking the first set by a score of 6-4. But after the San Marino duo evened the match with a 6-5 second set victory, they took the third set by a score of 6-3, to gain control of the team score.
