Boys tennis: Top 7 Seniors
April 18th, 2009, 7:45 am · · posted by Chris Tobolski, OCVarsity.com
University's John Huang
On Wednesday, we released The Top 7 Freshmen.
On Thursday, it was The Top 7 Sophomores.
Friday, The Top 7 Juniors.
How has it stacked up so far? Do you agree? Disagree? Have any comments to add about the players on the lists?
Feel free to leave your comments below.
The Top 7 Seniors
1. John Huang, University: Ranked No. 4 in the USTA’s SoCal 18 and under seedings, John has serious game. Coach John Kessler simply describes John’s game as “big time tennis.” As importantly, Huang as the mental make up to match his game. The kid is tough and isn’t going to back down. There’s no doubt as to why he is the No. 1 player on the No. 1 team in the county.
2. Matt Siow, University: Matt is the second highest ranked senior in the county. Not much more needs to be said than that. He’s headed to Princeton after this season, so we know he works just has hard in the classroom as he does on the court.He’s built up his serve to make it a weapon this year, and he probably has the best net game of anyone of the team, which makes him probably the best all-around player on the county’s top team.
3. Warren Hardie, Dana Hills: Warren is right there among the best in the county. He lost last year in the semifinals of Ojai, and his game is at a high-enough caliber, he could be among the few with a chance at winning it this year.
Warren is deadly from the baseline, and he doesn’t give his opponents cheap points. Bring a lot of water, and be prepared to work hard against him.
4. Chris Freeman, Mater Dei: Chris has the weapons. He has the ability to boom serves and follow them up with thundering forehands. He’s game has come along as he has learned to play smarter tennis. He is no longer going for the spectacular in every point, but rather playing the percentages and working more on setting points up to finish them off with his forehand.
5. Charlie Alvarado, Mater Dei: Charlie is the proverbial player who never gives up on anything. He can be a pain to play because of it. You know you are going to have to beat him, which means producing winners and playing a clean match.
Charlie used to be known more as a backboard who got everything back, but don’t make that mistake this year.
He has added pop to his game, especially on his forehand and serve. And he gets around the court well.
6. Kevin Cox, Servite: Kevin has had the quietest success of anyone on this list, but he won’t fly under the radar anymore. The Dartmouth-commit has beaten Freeman this season already, and is sure to battle for the Trinity League singles crown. Cox lost his first match of the season to Alvarado, and is 41-1 on the season.
7. Justin Thompson, Troy: Justin is the epitome of someone who shows up on the court with their lunchbox in hand. This kid grinds like no one else. He’s a fighter and because of his ability to wear down opponents, often emerges victorious. Justin has an all-around game, and is as comfortable as anyone playing defense.
More from the boys tennis blog:
- Boys tennis: Top 7 Juniors
- Boys tennis: Trabuco Hills earns key Sea View League victory
- Boys tennis: Top 7 Sophomores
- Boys tennis: No. 7 Dana Hills cruises past Mission Viejo
- Boys tennis: Top 7 Freshmen
- Boys tennis: Athlete of the Week
- Boys tennis: Top 10 rankings
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hi,
i like the lists, but I did notice every single player came from D1 schools. There are some players from smaller schools that still compete and have wins over players from Division 1 schools, and it seems slightly unfair to slight these players.
if cox beat freeman why would freeman be ahead of him? cox has had great success and is doing really well and probably should be higher then 6. Cox also is known for his (under-appreciated) doubles game too. Watch out for KC as he should do very well
In answer to both above, I wonder if this list was done on more of a body of work approach. Sure a player from a smaller school may have beaten a D1 player, and Kevin beating Chris is a great win. However, anybody can beat anybody on any given day. It’s what a player does day in and day out, as well as who that player has to play on those days, that should determine placement on this list. I actually think this list looks pretty accurate. I think just to be on this list is a huge accomplishment and I congratulate everyone from all the grades on being recognized. You are all terrific players.
All these players are great players.
They could be flip flopped around, and don’t disagree if someone thinks that way.
We are just lucky to be in a tennis rich county and get to enjoy all their talents, that’s what I like the most.
cox actually beat freeman twice…..first time he beat him 6-3 and the second time he beat him 6-2
Chris Freeman is better than Kevin Cox and its kind of a fluke how he ended up on this list so i think he and his little supporters should be grateful.
My son has played them both. I could totally see Kevin’s game driving Chris nuts. It’s just a tough match up for him. They have very different styles and both are great players. Chris has played a tougher schedule, I think. Ryan Peyton, Shane Korber, Matt Siow, John Huang, Reo Asami, Warren Hardie, Jim Myers, Trevor Dell, Mikey Zablan, Andre Halabi, Junya Yoshida, etc. My son doesn’t even go to Mater Dei, but this is a much more difficult schedule than that of Kevin Cox. By the way, how about Junya Yoshida? He’s a darn good player that should have been considered for this list.
Junya was considered for this list. He’s a very good player. He did lose to Thompson at the beginning of the season, and it played a part in the final list.
Oh, I see. It’s just that Junya is a four star recruit (Thompson and Cox are three star recruits) and he has won the Sea View League Singles Championship two years in a row (2007 & 2008). By the way, he is going to UCSD in the fall where he will be playing tennis.
I agree with Tennis Fan about Junya Yoshida. He is indeed a four star recruit on his way to UCSD and has won the Sea View League Singles Championship title two years in a row. Even though he lost to Justin Thompson, Yoshida has a win over Chris Freeman and Charlie Alvarado so far this season.
The fact that Junya was not selected just shows the depth of the OC senior class. Ali Makmalchi and Omeed Ghassemi were two other ones that were probably right outside of the top 7. Junya is a 4-star recruit on tennisrecruiting.net but he is actually ranked below Cox now in the rankings there and is close to Thompson even though they are 3-stars.
The depth of the senior class you can’t deny.
It was by far the hardest list to compile, especially because they are seniors and I didn’t want to exclude anyone since it’s there last year. But cutoff points are cutoff points. Like I said before, we are lucky to live in SoCal and see all these great talented kids.
True indeed. What a great class of players. I bet the Freshman list was difficult as well. That is going to be a fun class to watch develop.
Just so you know, Yoshida swept Mater Dei (Freeman and Alvarado) and Corona Del Mar (Peyton and Korber).
Dude
Thanks. People also don’t point out who kids lost to, and that’s alright. Peyton and Korber, neither are seniors, so I don’t think that would affect the list too much.
Thanks for the interest.