Stockdale's Quiroz distinguished himself with back-to-back section titles
| Thursday, Jun 25 2009 11:20 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Jun 25 2009 11:28 PM
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Jenn Ireland / The Californian All-Area boys tennis player of the year Jeremy Quiroz.
Jenn Ireland / The Californian All-Area boys tennis player of the year Jeremy Quiroz.
Jenn Ireland / The Californian All-Area boys tennis player of the year Jeremy Quiroz.
Stockdale senior Jeremy Quiroz promises he never gets down on himself on the tennis court.
That theory was tested fairly severely in this year's Central Section singles tournament, and Quiroz passed with flying colors. He became, in fact, the first player since Centennial's Ryan Haymond in 1999-2000 to win back-to-back section singles titles.
That makes him an obvious pick, for the second straight year, for The Californian's All-Area Singles Player of the Year. He's the first since Stockdale's Neil Gehlawat in 2003-04 to win that honor in consecutive years.
"By a long shot, he's the best player I've ever coached," said Dave Hillestad, who finished his second year as Stockdale's coach and before that was at West and Ridgeview.
Stockdale also is the home of The Californian's Doubles Team of the Year, Blaine Davenport and Pierre Tamer. That duo won the Southwest Yosemite League in doubles and then came from the No. 6 seed to reach the Central Section final. They lost in the final to Clovis' Andrew Combs and Steven Gilbert.
"I'm very proud of them," Hillestad said. "They had three tough matches to get to the finals, and they almost got better with every match."
Quiroz, meanwhile, had to face the pressure of being a defending champion. Then he fell behind Visalia-El Diamante's Ryan Andrada in his semifinal match, losing the first set 6-3.
"I wasn't playing well in the first set," Quiroz said. "I felt pressure and felt nervous. I felt like I couldn't hit through the ball. But I had to tell myself not to worry."
The positive attitude immediately paid off. Quiroz swept past Andrada 6-2, 6-0 in the next two sets.
Quiroz's next test was in the final against El Diamante's Josh Lorentzen, who took him to three sets before falling in the 2008 championship. Again, Quiroz fell behind, losing a first-set tiebreaker 7-0.
"It was a little too close to call (at that point)," Quiroz said. "But I never feel down; losing a point is just part of the game. That's the great thing about tennis. It's individual, and a lot of it is mental. That's part of the game, having your ups and downs."
Quiroz came out strong in the second set, but the Valley missed out. Lorentzen cramped up before the match could be decided. He tried to fight through it, but Quiroz breezed through the second set 6-1 and was up 2-1 in the third when Lorentzen finally called it quits.
And that was that. Quiroz, who'll play at Niagara University next year, had finished his career with a rare second title.
"He's the real deal," Hillestad said. "There's not too many players that can defend (a title), but he was able to back up his championship with another one."
