Two Point Loma High School tennis players brought home top honors from the United States Tennis Association’s 2016 National Winter Championship tournament played last week, and they are only juniors.
Keegan Smith, playing with his doubles partner Billy Rowe of Coronado, won the tournament’s Boys 18 doubles championship in straight sets.
Although seeded only fourth, the pair defeated the eighth-seeded team of Payam Ahmadi, of Reston, Va., and David Horneffer, of Brookfield, Wis., by scores of 6-4 and 6-3.
Smith and Rowe have played together for several years, and ironically, the two faced off in last year’s San Diego Section CIF singles championship match, with Smith defeating his good friend.
In the Boys 18 consolation match, the 12th-seeded team of fellow Pointer Ivan Thamma and David Goulak of Oaks Park, Calif. combined to defeat 11th-seeded Adam Amrozy, of South Pasadena, Fla., and Bennet Crane, of Winston-Salem, N.C., to win third place in the event. Thamma-Goulak defeated their opponents by scores of 1-6, 6-1 and 7-6.
The tournament was played from Dec. 27 to Jan. 2 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Pointer tennis coach Mark Truver will have the luxury of having Smith and Thamma on his roster when the CIF season begins this spring. His team won the Eastern League crown last year, with an 11-1 league record.
Tryouts for the Pointer team begin Feb. 15 from 1:45 to 3:30 p.m. at Robb Field’s Peninsula Tennis Club. Truver can be reached at [email protected].