Laguna Beach is heading towards the Orange Coast League title. Laguna Beach is now 5-0 in League play with three matches to go before the League Championships.
On March 20, Godinez defaulted their #1 Singles and #1 Doubles lines, and wins were picked up by Morgan Lebby, Austin Loomis and Alex Duong in Singles, and by Meisberger-Colborn, Boutes-Thomas and Nguyen-Bland in Doubles to give the Breakers a 15-3 League win. (Teague Hamilton was absent.)
On March 22, Laguna Beach also picked up a 15-3 League win over Costa Mesa. Teague Hamilton at #1 Singles won his match against Costa Mesa’s #1 Diego Hernandez 6-0, and was substituted by Alex Duong, who picked up a win against Costa Mesa’s #2 Jose Cuevas (6-2) and #3 Kevin Nguyen (6-0). Morgan Lebby at #2 Singles won his first two matches 6-0, 6-0, and was substituted by Andrew Koumas, who also pulled off a 6-0 victory. Costa Mesa’s #1 Doubles team of Tam Le and Max Nguyen swept Laguna Beach’s #1 Loomis-Nassiel, #2 Heussenstamm-Kimball and #3 Roger-Vanderveen. However, Laguna Beach won the other 6 doubles matches, with two wins posted by Meisberger-Boetes and one win each posted by Loomis-Nassiel, Heussenstamm-Kimball, Bland-Spritz and Nguyen-Thomas.
Laguna Beach came up short in its match against Santa Margarita, a Division I school, on Friday March 23. Teague Hamilton, Laguna’s #1 Singles player easily swept all his matches (6-2, 6-0, 6-2) and Matt Meisberger and Jared Boetes at #2 Doubles played well to pick up a win against Santa Margarita’s #1 Doubles team of Miller-Geis. Laguna lost this match-up 4-14.
But the Breakers were back on track with a League win over Saddleback, 16-2 on 3-27 . 3 wins by Morgan Lebby (at no.1 singles), 2 wins by Zach Pratto (at no.2 Singles), and 2 wins by Alex Duong (at no. 3 Singles) and sweeps by all three doubles teams – #1 Andrew Koumas and Oliver Nassiel; #2 Sam Wellsfry and Noah Radach, and #3 Conner Thomas and Jared Boetes.
The League wiinninng streak continued with Estancia on March 27. Teague Hamilton at No.1 Singles swept (6-1, 6-0, 6-0), Zach Pratto at No 2. Singles won two matches out of three (3-6, 6-3, 6-3) and Andrew Koumas at No. 3 Singles also won two matches out of three (6-2, 6-1, 1-6). Estancia edged Laguna in doubles play, with two wins recorded by Matt Meisberger and Jared Boetes, who had a very exciting matches against all three Estancia teams (7-5, 6-3, 6-7), and Sam Wellsfry and Alex Doung, who at the 3rd Doubles line recouped two wins after a loss to Estancia’s No. 1 line (0-6, 6-3, 6-3).
In the non-League match against Whitney on March 28, Laguna lost 5-13 but Teague Hamilton at #1 singles swept (6-1, 6-3, 6-1), Morgan Lebby won 1 match (2-6, 3-6, and 6-3), and the doubles team #3 Beau Heussenstamm and Oliver Nassiel won one match (0-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8)). Another non-League match was played on April 5 against Cerritos with similar results. The wins were picked up by Teague Hamilton, Number 1 Singles Line (6-3, 6-0, 6-0) and Morgan Lebby Number 2 singles Line (3-6, 6-4, 6-1).
The Breakers hosted rivals Sage, a Division III school, on their home courts on April 2 and prevailed 10-8. This was a non-league game, and the Singles line-up gave Laguna the edge. Teague Hamilton (6-1, 6-2, 6-0) and Morgan Lebby (6-2, 6-4, 6-1) at No. 1 and 2 respectively, swept their matches. Zach Pratto also played solid tennis to pick up a win against seasoned opponents (4-6, 0-6, 6-3). One win each was picked up by Doubles teams Beau Heussenstamm and Oliver Nasiell (Line 1), Thomas Connor and Sam Wellsfry (subbing at Line 2) and Andrew Koumas and Casey Kimball (at Line 3).
While the non-League play has not been as successful as League play for the team, Teague Hamilton has not dropped a match since March 14, when he lost one out of three games to Mater Dei. He has an 87% winning rate this season having won 26 of the 30 matches he has played this season, positioning himself for the CIF championships. He has swept (winning all three of matches) against Newport Harbor, San Clemente and Santa Margarita (Division I schools), as well as against Whitney and Sage (Division III).
Teague has been invited to play the USTA National Spring Championship (known as the Easter Bowl) in Palm Desert over Easter Break. This tournament is limited to 128 top Juniors from all over the United States and selected based on their national ranking and endorsement from their Local Section (in Teague’s case, Southern California Tennis Association).
