Stockdale wraps up another title
| Tuesday, Apr 28 2009 10:44 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Apr 29 2009 09:33 AM
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Felix Adamo / The Californian Stockdale's Jeremy Quiroz makes the return to Frontier's James Griffin at the Stockdale high courts.
Felix Adamo / The Californian Frontier's James Griffin backhands a return to Stockdale's Jeremy Quiroz .
Felix Adamo / The Californian Frontier's James Griffin gets a leg up on a return to Stockdale's Jeremy Quiroz .
Jeremy Quiroz, the best high school tennis player in Kern County, sat courtside Tuesday during one of Stockdale's most important league matches, leisurely cheering and chatting with a couple of friends.
Problem? Not at Stockdale, where the Mustangs won five of six late matches without Quiroz to cruise 11-1 past Frontier and clinch SWYL title No. 9 in a row.
"I just wanted to get experience for the other guys," Stockdale coach Dave Hillestad said. "I'm always looking to get experience when we can. And we're fortunate at Stockdale that I can put the guys in."
Quiroz did his part early, beating Frontier's James Griffin at a No. 1 singles match that pitted two players who likely will be seeded at the Central Section singles tournament next month. Quiroz, the defending champion, beat Griffin 6-0, 6-2.
Griffin teamed with Tyler Black to beat Blaine Davenport and Pierre Tamer at No. 1 doubles while Quiroz rested, but Stockdale (21-2, 11-0 SWYL) won every other match, including singles matches by freshmen Ravi Gupta and Charles Tamer and one by sophomore Riley Heffernan.
"It's good for (Davenport and Tamer) because it puts them under some pressure," said Hillestad, who said the duo likely will team up in the section doubles championship. "When we get to Valley individuals, they're going to play teams just as good as that.
"And we don't need to win 12-0."
Stockdale will lose four of its top five players to graduation, including Quiroz, so there's hope next year for young teams like Frontier (12-10, 8-3) which finishes its league season Thursday against Centennial, with second place in the league on the line.
First place has been occupied by Stockdale since George W. Bush took office and before any of its current players had finished elementary school. But the Mustangs, like usual, have their eyes on a bigger prize: Their second Division I section title. Hillestad figures they'll be a No. 2 seed behind Clovis West, though the teams haven't played this year.
"Our (common) scores aren't as good as Clovis West," Hillestad said. "But I still think we're stronger at No. 1 singles, and that's two points (with No. 1 doubles) we can get for sure."
So rest assured: There are no plans to keep Quiroz out of the lineup for that match. And that's a scary thing.
"We're just so deep," Hillestad said. "Hopefully that'll carry us all the way through."
