Some of Southern California’s young talents are concluding their junior careers before entering the college ranks this fall, headed to universities across the nation for their first real taste of competitive team tennis. Despite these uncertain times, teams throughout Southern California and beyond are preparing – if only on paper – to restock their rosters and resume competition as they await the arrival of the incoming freshman class of scholar-athletes.
A quarterfinalist at the 2019 USTA SoCal Junior Sectional Championships and the ITF at Irvine, Amy Huang of San Diego (pictured) will find herself on the opposite coast this fall, beginning her tenure at Harvard University. Under coach Tracy Green, the Crimson were 7-2 in Ivy League play this spring, on the verge of a west coast swing through California before the season was halted.
“I’m very excited to switch coasts!” Amy tells USTASoCal. “I’ve always loved the snow and I love playing indoor tennis so I couldn’t be more excited.” Playing for an Ivy League school, Amy will balance demanding academics and a tennis season at once. “My selection process was pretty straight forward,” she says. “I knew I wanted a school with both strong tennis and academics. I probably weighed academics a little more than athletics but in the end, I still wanted to play at a Division I school.”
Shervin Dehmoubed of Cardiff and Los Angeles’ Renould Lefevre are also headed to Ivy League play, both joining the young Yale squad.
Daniel Zhou of Alhambra, the 2016 Anaheim Level 4 16s champion, will take a much different route. Zhou (along with Jake Huarte of Tustin, plus Santa Clarita’s Justine Dondonay on the women’s side) will play for Army West Point Academy this fall. The men were 9-6 overall in 2019/20 under coach Jim Poling, with four California imports on the squad. Among Army’s top rivals is Air Force, who add Jinta Sasamori of Norwalk and Irvine’s Daniel Wei to their roster.
“When I (visited West Point),” Zhou recalls, “I really just liked the environment … everyone was looking out for you and just making sure you’re doing your best at all times. But most importantly, (I appreciated) the leadership development and the more ethical side of West Point, because not every college takes the time to develop you as a leader.”
Worth mentioning is the City of Irvine, which boasts eight young players moving on to collegiate programs in the fall, and San Diego, where eight top girls are headed to the college ranks.
Creighton University in Nebraska will benefit most from the great SoCal talent pool, poaching three Section players for their men’s squad.
GIRLS BLUE STAR & FIVE STAR RECRUITS
Charlotte Chavatipon (Fullerton) TEXAS
Amy Huang (San Diego) HARVARD
Anessa Lee (San Marino) VANDERBILT
Michelle Zell (Tustin) UC DAVIS
Casie Wooten (Torrance) WAKE FOREST
Camille Kiss (Redlands) UC SANTA BARBARA
Erica Ekstrand (Santa Monica) WILLIAMS
Natalie Duffy (Hemet) CSU FULLERTON
Justine Dondonay (Santa Clarita) ARMY
Cami Brown (Irvine) CALIFORNIA
Jordyn McBride (Valencia) SAN DIEGO
GIRLS RECRUITS, CLASS OF 2020
Giulia Hoyer (San Diego) SANTA CLARA
Irene Huang (San Diego) MIT
Ella Pachl (Laguna Beach) UCSD
Carly Schwartzberg (San Diego) UC DAVIS
Emily Fowler (San Diego) UCI
Grace Fuss (Santa Barbara) HAMILTON
Karen Gao (San Diego) WASHINGTON U
Mia Linam (Palos Verdes Estates) CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT
Heather Richards (Hemet) CONCORDIA (CA)
Thelma Sepulveda (San Ysidro) POINT LOMA (CA)
Olivia Tracey (San Diego) LOYOLA (MD)
Zoe Coggins (Huntington Beach) DOMINICAN (CA)
Chase Eisenberg (Stevenson Ranch) TCNJ
Hannah Kimura (Beverly Hills) WELLESLEY
Tanner Rowland (Riverside) UC SANTA CRUZ
Julia Wagner (Arroyo Grande) HILLSDALE
Jane Wang (San Diego) BABSON
Alexandra Sekulic (Long Beach) HOPE INTERNATIONAL
Yukina Abe (Ojai) McNEESE STATE
Sydney Bram (Los Angeles) BATES
Mae Fmar Canete (Los Angeles) CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
BOYS BLUE STAR & FIVE STAR RECRUITS
Max McKennon (Newport Beach) ARIZONA STATE
Kai Brady (Redondo Beach) UC SANTA BARBARA
Shervin Dehmoubed (Cardiff) YALE
Noah Gampel (Malibu) CALIFORNIA
Bruno Krenn (Calabasas) UTAH
Renould Lefevre (Los Angeles) YALE
Alexander Petrov (Irvine) IOWA
Daniel Zhou (Alhambra) ARMY
BOYS RECRUITS, CLASS OF 2020
Ayato Arakaki (Ojai) QUINNIPIAC
Sundeep Chakladar (Redondo Beach) MIT
Jett Cole (Laguna Beach) UCSB
Jonah Dickson (Pacific Palisades) BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Tim Dzhurinskiy (Manhattan Beach) WISCONSIN
Jake Huarte (Tustin) ARMY
Shin Inoue (Irvine) CREIGHTON
Caden Kammerer (Irvine) XAVIER
Noah Laber (Ventura) MIDDLEBURY
Matthew Lanahan (Chula Vista) CREIGHTON
Ryan Lee (Irvine) WESLEYAN (CT)
Nadim Motagheti (Cerritos) CARNEGIE MELLON
Jinta Sasamori (Norwalk) AIR FORCE
Derek Wong (La Jolla) CARNEGIE MELLON
John Zisette (Manhattan Beach) SMU
Sam Ashbrook (Arroyo Grande) REDLANDS
Lincoln Bellamy (Pacific Palisades) LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
Matthew Feng (Arcadia) PONOMO-PITZER
Ethan Ha (Carpenteria) WESTMONT
Yuv Kataria (Ojai) CARLETON
Zackary Maline (Coto de Gaza) CREIGHTON
Joshua Masuda (Palos Verdes Estates) MIT
Yuvraj Narang (Ventura) CWRU
Sean Pesin (Ojai) HOBART & WILLIAM SMITH
Cameron Sepahi (Irvine) HAVERFORD
Eric Silberman (San Diego) UCSD
Daniel Wei (Irvine) AIR FORCE
Aaron Basye (Mission Viejo) BRANDEIS
Michael Blando (San Diego) UC RIVERSIDE
Nathan Butterfield (San Luis Obispo) REDLANDS
Nabil Fawaz (Irvine) ILLINOIS TECH
Vahag Pashayan (Pasadena) GEORGE FOX
ZhiYi Zhang (Los Angeles) STEVENS
Top SoCal programs adding blue chip and five star athletes include:
Abigail Desiatnikov (Nevada) SAN DIEGO
Vanessa Ong (Oklahoma) UCLA
McKenna Koenig (Arizona) USC
Shreya Ravilla (NorCal) CAL POLY
Judson Blair (Oregon) SAN DIEGO STATE
Carter Crookston (Texas) CAL POLY
Blake Kasday (Nevada) SAN DIEGO
Stefan Leustian (NorCal) UCLA
Recruits at all levels can be found online at tennisrecruiting.net.