On Thursday morning, University’s dynamic trio of Drew Dawson, Arash Hafezi and Eric Tseng will take the court at the annual Ojai Tournament with aspirations of capturing a fifth consecutive team title.
While it’s undeniably a lot to think about, the Trojans teammates proved they were doing anything but looking ahead.
Top-ranked University cruised past No. 5 Beckman on Tuesday, besting their Pacific Coast League foe, 16-2, at University High for its 104th consecutive dual match victory.
“One of our coaches said this was probably our last pressure situation before Ojai so to use it as warm up,” Dawson explained.
Along with Hafezi, the Notre-Dame bound Dawson made quick work of his Patriots counterparts, winning all three doubles sets 6-0.
“I did think that Drew and Arash looked good,” said Trojans coach John Kessler. “(Beckman’s) Axel (Stern) and (Luis Castillo) are playing doubles at Ojai, and in that first set it was 6-0 quick.”
Tseng played only two single sets, but won both by 6-0 margins.
“I thought he played loose today,” Kessler said of Tseng. “If he plays loose, Eric could be dangerous.”
The trio will open play at Ojai on Thursday morning. Dawson will try to become the first three-time doubles winner at Ojai in more than 100 years.
Also in the Pacific Coast League:
No. 2 Corona del Mar 11, No. 9 Woodbridge 7: Sophomore Bjorn Hoffmann went 3-0 in singles and the doubles tandem of Carson Williams and Josh Kliger followed suit as the Sea Kings bested the Warriors.
In the Sunset League:
No. 4 Fountain Valley 16, Huntington Beach 2: A day after edging out No. 3 Los Alamitos, the Barons continued their impressive play. Sophomore Eric Nguyen did not lose a game in any of his singles sets en route to another 3-0 day for the Barons. John Lieu also went unbeaten in singles, dropping four games in the process.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
