Longoria has his Sage Hill girls moving on

NEWPORT BEACH — The words were simple, yet stern coming from A.G. Longoria, the Sage Hill School girls’ tennis coach.

“Here we go,” he said, not shouting but loud enough to be heard. “One point at a time.”

He was talking to his No. 3 doubles team of Salen Andrews and Raya Tasker, who were involved in a thrilling set with Walnut at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club Tuesday.

Andrews and Tasker, who were playing in just their seventh set of the season together, trailed, 5-1, in a tiebreaker to 10, but started to rally. Andrews and Tasker, as most of the Sage Hill girls have so many times, listened to their coach and defeated Julianne Carluen and Courtney Wong, 7-6 (11-9).

The victory was the most exciting, and perhaps the most inspiring, in the Lightning’s 11-7 triumph over the Mustangs in a CIF Southern Section Division IV quarterfinal. Sage, the top seed, will face South Torrance, an 11-7 winner over Morro Bay Thursday, in a semifinal at a site to be determined by coin flip today.

As Andrews and Tasker shook hands with their opponents, Longoria smiled as he walked toward the court to congratulate his plucky senior duo.

In the playoffs, Tasker has been playing for Carissa Cummings, a team captain, who injured her shoulder during the Academy League semifinals. Cummings and Andrews, who won the Academy League doubles title last year, were 32-0 during the regular season.

“I knew there was no way I could replace [Cummings],” Tasker said. “But all I could do was try and play as hard as I could.”

Tasker’s effort, combined with Andrews’ heady shots, led the Lightning doubles team’s comeback from a 4-3 deficit. Andrews and Tasker saved six match points. The victory turned out to be the lone win for the tandem. They entered the match, having won six straight, as Sage Hill (22-1) posted two shutouts before facing Walnut (18-2).

That’s the type of domination and success the Lightning have produced under their coach, who has been with the program since it started in 2001.

For three straight years, they have been ranked No. 1 in their division through the regular season. Last year, they won their first CIF title, in Division V. Sage Hill has also won three straight Academy League titles. It could be said, girls tennis is the pride of the school. Longoria’s girls have the most postseason victories (16) of any sport at Sage Hill.

And, to think it all started from a phone call that came to Longoria before the school was to open. Ken Stuart, the Palisades Tennis Club owner who was also on Sage Hill’s initial athletic committee, sought out Longoria for advice as the athletic group gathered coaches for interviews and also formed plans for the facilities.

Stuart went to the right place. Longoria is the executive director of the Private Tennis Club Assn. of Orange County. But instead of giving Stuart several names, Longoria only gave one: himself.

The rest, as they say, is history, or in Sage Hill’s case, championship history. The Lightning are attempting to win another CIF title, but in a higher division. To prepare for that feat, Longoria made sure to schedule Division I and II programs. The Lightning’s only loss this season came to Corona del Mar, known as the best team in the state and the top squad in Division I.

They’ve scored victories over Laguna Beach, Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran and Northwood. They’ve even beaten some quality teams from out of the state, and out of the nation, with wins over Nevada’s Bishop Gorman and Australia’s Peninsula School of Melbourne.

“He truly cares about the girls and wants us to do well,” senior Stephanie Langer said. “He’s a great coach and he constantly wants us to play our best in the matches.”

Longoria has always wanted the best since he got a taste of championship success. He played tennis at the University of Texas, where the Longhorns won the NCAA title in 1963. Longoria, whose first name is Anselmo Gregorio, went on to coach at North Texas State and the University of Texas Pan Am, as well as Irvine Valley College.

“Some people go from coaching high school to junior college to college and up,” said Longoria, 61, a walk-on coach, who also works as the property manager at Crystal Cove. “I’m going the other way.”

But Sage Hill doesn’t mind. The Lightning want to get their coach another CIF title, but he just wants it for the seniors. He holds his four-year players in high regard, yet he also has the desire to build for the future. After Sage grabbed the clinching 10th point Tuesday, he put in his substitutes.

“We could have probably won by more,” Longoria said. “But I don’t care. I want the younger players to get the playoff experience for next year.”

The sixth-year coach does his best to put feelings aside. It’s one of the reasons why he rotates the team’s No. 1 singles player. For the past three seasons, the Lightning have had a different No. 1 singles player throughout the season, as Sarah Geocaris, Langer and Ashley Adams have shared the top singles spot. In the first round of the playoffs, Geocaris was the No. 1. She was No. 3 on Tuesday, but produced the same result: a sweep.

“I’m pretty cool with it,” Geocaris, a senior and a team captain, said of the rotation. “At some schools it’s a big thing to be the No. 1 singles player, but, really, we all play the same girls.”

Walnut, which won the San Antonio League with a 10-0 record, also moved around its lineup Tuesday, but in a different way. Mustangs Coach Anthony Goossens put his best players in doubles. Walnut’s usual No. 1 singles player, Stacey Peng, was in No. 1 doubles and Megan Corpuz, usually the No. 2 singles player, was in No. 2 doubles.

“That’s all I could do against them,” Goossens said. “I had to put my best in singles and hope for the best.”

Geocaris, Langer and Adams crushed that hope. Langer swept without giving up a point and Adams won, 6-2, 6-0, before being replaced in the third round when the match was already decided.

In doubles, Alle Hsu and Jaclyn Smrecek won, 6-0, 6-0 and were substituted for.

CIF Division IV

Quarterfinal

Sage Hill 11, Walnut 7

Singles -- Langer (SH) def. Yuen, 6-0, def. Le, 6-0, def. Huynh, 6-0; Adams (SH) won, 6-2, 6-0, (sub) Tucker (SH) lost, 3-6; Geocaris (SH) won, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles -- Hsu-Smrecek (SH) def. Peng-Kawilarang, 6-0, def. Durongwong-Copuz, 6-0, (sub) Hsu-Taskinen (SH) lost to Carluen-Wong, 2-6; Spivack-Dokich (SH) lost, 1-6, 2-6, (sub) Smart-Moore (SH) lost, 1-6; Andrews-Tasker won, 7-6 (11-9), lost, 4-6, 4-6.