Coskinas keeps growing

Ari Coskinas knows Adam Langevin pretty well.

The two junior tennis players both live in Newport Beach, and both also travel to Fountain Valley daily to train at Dent Tennis Academy.

So when Coskinas saw the draw at the 26th annual The Tennis Club Junior Tournament, better known as the “War by the Shore,” he knew he could be playing his friend in the round of 32 of the boys’ 18s.

“I mean, it’s stressful,” Coskinas said. “You get pretty tight, and it’s hard because you know each other’s weaknesses, how the other person plays. You just have to do your best, do what you know works and hope for the best.”

The match against Langevin came to fruition Tuesday night at The Tennis Club Newport Beach. But the No. 6-seeded Coskinas handled himself well, posting a 6-3, 6-2 victory to advance to the round of 16.

Coskinas, who went to Corona del Mar High for his first two years of high school but now is schooled via online through Laurel Springs, will play Tsuping Kuang of China on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. at The Tennis Club.

Coskinas was a valuable doubles player for CdM as a sophomore, but left the school to grow his tennis game. His height also has grown, all the way up to 6-foot-3.

“It’s kind of boring sometimes, because I’m at home all the time, but it’s good,” said Coskinas, ranked No. 72 in the Southern California boys’ 18s. “I got way better. I improved a lot, and it’s fun, I enjoy it.”

Langevin recently completed his sophomore year at Sage Hill, where the singles player helped the Lightning advance to the CIF Southern Section Division 2 semifinals and the program’s first CIF SoCal Regional berth. The match against Coskinas was tight early in the first set.

Coskinas broke Langevin’s serve for a 2-1 lead, but Langevin immediately broke back. From there, however, Coskinas would break Langevin’s serve twice more to win the set, 6-3.

Langevin’s serve was broken three more times in the second set.

“He just gets tight on his serve and he double-faults a lot,” said Coskinas, who held serve every time in the match except that 2-1 game in the first set.

Coskinas, whose older sister Marina was a water polo standout at CdM and now goes to USC, now will try to make a run at the War by the Shore.

“I kind of took a long unintentional break from tournaments,” he said. “I took one weekend off, but then there were no tournaments after that for like three weekends. Then I played in one, and mentally I wasn’t ready for it. This is my third one back after that ... I’m getting in the groove a little bit.”

—

•Other Newport-Mesa locals to advance Tuesday included Corona del Mar High incoming junior Jasie Dunk, who won twice as the top seed in the girls’ 16s. Dunk defeated Danielle Pollner of Chappaqua, N.Y., 6-0, 6-0, before getting past Catt MacEachern of Seal Beach, 6-1, 6-1.

Dunk will play No. 7-seeded Kelsey Vodhanel of Irvine in the quarterfinals Wednesday at 8 a.m.

Newport Harbor High incoming sophomore Nicole Knickerbocker, the No. 8 seed in the girls’ 16s, got past Li Xinran of Cerritos, 6-2, 6-0. Knickerbocker will play Lexie Shomo of Elfin Forest in the quarterfinals Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

Two locals also advanced to the quarterfinals in the girls’ 18s. Newport Harbor High incoming senior Jenn Kingsley defeated Michelle Hyun of Cerritos, 6-4, 6-2. Kingsley will play top-seeded Whitney Weisberg of Redlands in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

Newport Beach resident Mackenzie Worsnop, the No. 3 seed in the 18s, rallied for a 4-6, 6-1, 10-6 win over Huang Yen of China. Worsnop, who was a finalist at the War by the Shore last year, will play Ellery Bohrmann of Indio in the quarterfinals Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

Lauren Friedman of Newport Beach, the No. 2 seed in the girls’ 12s, got past Ruby Van Cott of Westlake Village, 6-1, 6-2. Friedman will play Alexandra Ozerets of Mission Viejo in the quarterfinals Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

In the boys’ 16 singles, Jacob Holiday of Costa Mesa advanced to the round of 16 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Peter Gottlieb of San Juan Capistrano. Holiday will play William Poma of Hong Kong on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

In boys’ 14 singles, No. 2-seeded Emin Torlic, who will be a freshman at Sage Hill this fall, topped Nishant Kannan of Arizona, 6-3, 6-2, in the round of 16. Torlic will play Gabriel Kwock of Hawaii in the quarterfinals Wednesday at 2 p.m.

John Cross of Newport Beach and Paul Dandler of Newport Coast each won their boys’ 10s matches Tuesday, and will play each other in a quarterfinal match Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

All matches are at The Tennis Club Newport Beach. Doubles matches start Thursday.