SEAL BEACH — For University seniors Drew Dawson and Eric Tseng, this is it.
Throughout their careers, the Trojans’ four-year vets have won everything a high school boys tennis player could imagine – CIF-SS championships, Regional titles, high-profile tournaments, etc.
While they’ll always cherish those moments, the University teammates are poised to add one more lasting memory – and title – to their already illustrious careers.
Along with University junior Arash Hafezi, Dawson and Tseng highlight a group of local players who advanced to today’s semifinal and final rounds in the CIF-SS Individual Championships at Seal Beach Tennis Center.
“It’s been so long,” Dawson said of this season. “First we had CIF (team) finals, then we had Regionals and now individuals. I just haven’t put much thought into this actually being my last high school match.
“Hopefully I can make the most of it and leave it all out there.”
The Notre Dame-bound Dawson is one of four players left in contention for the singles crown.
Wins over Victor Chang of Santa Monica and Crean Luthean’s Niko Ramadan on Friday put Dawson into today’s semifinal where he’ll take on top-seeded Michael Genender of Harvard-Westlake of Studio City.
In the other semifinal, Dana Hills’ Chase Masciorini will face Austin Rapp of Palm Desert.
Masciorini, the South Coast League singles champ, was in top form, capping his day with a dazzling 6-0, 6-1 showing over Danny Gealer of San Marino.
On the doubles side, Tseng and Hafezi cruised into the semis with straight set wins over teams from San Luis Obispo, 6-1, 6-4, and Westlake, 6-1, 6-1.
“We got our job done today,” Tseng explained. “I think we both played pretty well. Our first match was pretty tough. Our opponents played really well, but we just stuck to our guns and pulled through.”
As the defending CIF doubles champs, the Trojans duo will first need to get past Santa Margarita’s Ricky Kurtz and Ryan Dugan in the semis if they have any aspirations of defending their title.
Kurtz and Dugan enter today’s semis with a lot of momentum after rallying back and upsetting Los Alamitos’ Kyle McCann and Vatsal Bajpai in the quarters. After dropping the first set 3-6, the Trinity League’s championship tandem countered and won the next two sets, 6-4, 6-3, to punch its berth in the semis.
Singles and doubles play begin at 11 a.m. today at Seal Beach Tennis Center.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
