Several local scholastic boys tennis teams have their sights set on CIF gold this spring.
At La Jolla High, the Vikings are under new head coach Thomas Andrews. Last season, La Jolla went 19-2 and returns eight players this spring.
Andrews will look to Kyle Van Buskirk, Niko Karnopp, Danial Lapidus, Jerry Lin, Chris Lambort, Max Einhorn, William Zhang and Harper Allen to lead the way.
Several freshmen made the varsity team, including Michael Rabinovich, Sean Rodriguez, Romar Hernandez and Johnathon Lo.
“La Jolla has an incredibly strong team this year,” Andrews commented. “The lineup is deep with talented players. If the team can keep its focus and not get over-confident, we will win our division and perhaps the CIF. Look for senior Kyle Van Buskirk to lead by example with focus, match play and experience. Niko Karnopp and Danial Lapidus will do the same.”
Andrews added that the freshmen have an opportunity to make the greatest impact.
“Of the six freshmen that made the team, two have national rankings and two have sectional rankings,” Andrews added. “Although all the freshmen are good, Michael Rabinovich has the complete game. I predict Michael will be the most feared player on our team.”
At La Jolla Country Day (LJCD) School, the Torreys under head coach Angela Horacek opened the season with a 6-3 win over La Costa Canyon in a doubles tournament.
LJCD added wins last week over Valhalla (12-6) and Santa Fe Christian (17-1) on Thursday. Warren Wood and Daniel Faierman didn’t lose a match last week.
Finally, The Bishop’s School was second a season ago in Coastal League action for head coach Jose Ruelas. Bishop’s lost in the CIF semis to Cathedral Catholic.
Key players this spring look to include Armen Abagyan, Vasu Prathipati and Robert Xie, along with senior co-captains Carlos Trevino and Alex Meyer. The Knights will also look to freshmen Mark Kirzon, Brent Thomas and Keaton Lipson to play a role.
“We really need to solidify some doubles teams for the season because I think we can compete in singles with most teams,” Ruelas noted.