It was a tough ending to a solid season for the No. 2 Cate boys tennis team, as the Rams went winless in singles play and fell to host No. 6 Laguna Beach 13-5 in the CIF Division IV Semifinals Tuesday.
Coach Bob Bonning said he can’t remember Max Sabel ever being swept in his time at Cate (15-4). The senior, who graduated this past Sunday, will play for Pitzer College in Pomona next year. The doubles teams of Wyatt Geiger-Blake Mackall (3-0) and Rohit Goswamy-Cam Seo (2-1) picked up the only set victories for Cate.
“I think having graduated was definitely a distraction for our seniors,” said Bonning. “It’s a little different than the baseball team because when you’re out there it’s just you and the other guy. I think our heads were on a little looser than I’d like while Laguna Beach was very focused.”
The Breakers have now picked up two upsets to make the finals after defeating third-seeded Whitney in the quarterfinals. As for a scouting report, Cate had a tough time finding one.
“Unfortunately, they don’t have Presidio Sports down there,” said Bonning.
Bonning said that it will be tough to replace the five graduating Cate seniors, particularly Sabel and Wyatt Geiger, but that there are some younger players doing very well.
“It was a pretty good season. We went undefeated in the Condor League and were actually pretty dominant, and we also played the Channel League schools pretty well,” he said. “We were moved up to Division IV this year, so I think it was a pretty good run.”
LAGUNA BEACH 13, CATE 5
Singles— C: Max Sabel 0-3, Geoffrey Mak 0-3, Austin Lokre 0-3. LB: Jake Michael 3-0, Chris Larevy 3-0, Benito Romeo 3-0.
Doubles — C: Wyatt Geiger-Blake Mackall 3-0, Rohit Goswamy-Cam Seo 2-1, Connor Lemos-Gregory Mak 0-3. LB: Rex Miller-Mikey Rubel 2-1, Chris O’Connor-Huttan Mackenzie 1-2, Paul Sclanan-Cameron Cornell 1-0, Alex Grumet-Hunter Moscow 0-2.
