SEAL BEACH – Friday afternoon, Canyon senior Denis Nguyen worked the baseline at the Seal Beach Tennis Center with the quiet confidence of someone who has been in this position before.
Nguyen made the semifinals of the CIF-SS Boys Individual Tennis Championships last year, and after two wins Friday, he is back in the same position.
“It would be really nice to win this thing,” Nguyen said. “It’d be nice to end on a good note.”
One court over, University freshman Drew Dawson slapped hands with his doubles partner, senior Kona Luu, and took a deep breath after winning their second match of the day.
“This is more different than (the other tournaments) I play,” Dawson said. “I think it’s more fun because of the team aspect. It’s great competition.
“Being in the semis means a lot. I think it’s pretty cool.”
A lot of Orange County’s best prep tennis players tried to get to the same position as Dawson and Nguyen, but most couldn’t do it.
After knocking Dana Hills senior Trevor Dell out of the tournament, Mater Dei junior Justin Agbayani couldn’t get past Nguyen, losing, 6-1, 6-1.
Troy’s Carl Hernandez defeated Valencia’s Jonathan Hammel but couldn’t get anything going against Brentwood sophomore T.J. Pura, losing, 6-1, 6-1.
University sophomore Stefan Menichella and Marina senior Parker Glore both lost in the round of 16, falling to Pura (6-4, 6-4) and Palm Desert’s Abraham Hewko (3-6, 7-5, 6-4), respectively.
University sophomore Gage Brymer won both of his matches and will face Hewko in one semifinal match. Nguyen will face Pura in the other semifinal.
Brymer, who has never faced Nguyen, said he’d like to take part in an all-O.C. final Saturday. All semifinal matches will begin at 11:30 a.m. at the Seal Beach Tennis Center.
“Every chance we’ve had to play in a tournament, either I’d lose before we were supposed to play or he’d lose,” Brymer said. “I’d love to get the chance to play him if I can get through the first one tomorrow.”
Brymer will have plenty of familiar faces surrounding him Saturday.
Dawson and Luu and Ryo Shimizu and Tyler Lu advanced to the final four of the doubles field. Dawson and Luu will face Jeff Hawke and Eric Lim from Palos Verdes, and Shimizu and Lu will take on Shuhaiu Shubahara and Chris Dalton from Peninsula.
Teams from Dana Hills, Tesoro, Foothill and Villa Park were eliminated Friday.
“For all of us to do well, it feels good,” Brymer said. “It was a really good day for Uni.”
Contact the writer: dwoike@ocregister.com
