Boys’ Tennis: Stalder stays undefeated

Apologies to T-Pain, but all Reese Stalder does lately is win, win, win, no matter what.

The Newport Harbor High senior boys’ tennis player won the singles and doubles titles at the Harper Ink junior tournament over the weekend in San Diego.

On Tuesday, Stalder swept his three singles sets as the Sailors beat Marina, 11-7, in a key Sunset League match at Newport Harbor High.

Stalder is now 29-0 this season for the Sailors. So what does an intelligent player do in a situation where he is dominating? Look for a bigger challenge.

Stalder competed in doubles in the Bakersfield Tennis Open, an ITF tournament, in mid-March. Stalder and Cameron Klinger of Northern California lost narrowly in the first round to former USC stars and current pros Emilio Gomez and Ray Sarmiento, 7-6, 7-5.

And Stalder said after Tuesday’s match that he is planning to play in the men’s open division, not the CIF singles division, at the upcoming Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament.

“I’m looking to play guys who hit a bigger ball,” said Stalder, who is bound for TCU. “Juniors, everyone’s really good but they don’t quite hit the same ball that I’ll see in college. I’m just trying to prepare myself, try to get some different opponents as well. Just changing it up and trying to get the best matches I can before I leave.”

Stalder, who swept a Los Alamitos singles lineup featuring USC-bound Riley Smith, UC Irvine-bound Vatsal Bajpai and UC Riverside-bound Kyle McCann last week, had an easy go of it Tuesday. He swept his sets, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0. The 6-1 win came against highly regarded Marina junior Max Cancilla, who is ranked No. 20 in the Southern California boys’ 18s by the United States Tennis Assn. Stalder is ranked No. 2.

Things got a bit contentious at times during the set.

“What happened to calling the score?” Cancilla yelled across the net with Stalder serving for the set.

“I’m up 5-1, 40-15,” responded Stalder, a bit annoyed, who proceeded to win the match with a second-serve ace on the line.

“We’re good friends, but it happens,” Stalder said after the match. “It stays on the court. We get over it, so it’s no big deal.”

Newport Harbor (10-2, 1-1 in league), coming off a 12-6 loss at Los Alamitos on Thursday, got back on the winning track against Marina (9-2, 1-1). The match was important. Each of the last two years, the Sailors have edged out third place in league — and the automatic CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoff spot that goes with it — over the Vikings.

Cancilla, Brendan Barr and Kevin Manouchehri each won twice in singles for Marina. But the Sailors took eight of nine doubles sets.

The pairings of David Lee and Mark Schaefer, as well as co-captain David Schaefer and Andy Myers, each swept for Newport Harbor. Co-captain Ryan Young and Sam Leaman won twice.

Young and Leaman’s 7-5 win over Kevin Dang and Alex Haduong on the second round was key. It gave Newport Harbor an 8-4 lead.

“I think that was a big win for both Ryan and Sam’s confidence together, and I just really think it was a very big win for Ryan Young as a captain,” Newport Harbor Coach Kristen Case said. “He really stepped up and led the way there, and stayed poised and confident and showed his strong abilities as a leader.”

The Sailors appear to have a good shot at moving up to a top-two position in league. Case said she expects another good match when her team plays host to Los Al, ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, on April 20. Another Stalder sweep could give Newport Harbor a shot.

But Marina Coach Bruce Beutler certainly isn’t ready to concede anything in regard to league positioning.

“We knew we were going to be up against it with their doubles teams,” Beutler said. “They took eight out of nine, so that’s what really beat us ... we’ll have to readjust the next time we play them. Anyway, it was a good match. [Newport Harbor has a] good team, good coach. Always well-coached.”

Newport Harbor plays host to Huntington Beach on Thursday.