DAY IN SPORTS: MEGA YEAR FOR STEWART.

Byline: Daily News

The Malibu High boys' tennis team had its season end Thursday. Doug Stewart's season, however, continues in a blaze of glory.

Stewart, the No. 1 singles player for Malibu, won all three of his sets in the Sharks' 13-5 loss to Brentwood in a Southern Section Division V second-round match at Brentwood. He is unbeaten on the season.

For the unbeaten Stewart, a senior who will attend the University of Virginia in the fall, it's been a dream season. Not only is he ranked among the top five in the nation among players 18 and under, he's also been the champion of some of the more prestigious tournaments in Southern California. His biggest tournament wins both came in April at the Easter Bowl tournament in Palm Springs and the Ojai Valley Tennis tournament.

It's not surprising Stewart has had such a great year. He showed an inkling of things to come last season when he won the championship of the CIF tournament, an event that features the top 128 players among the more than 500 schools in the Southern Section.

This season, Stewart picked up right where he left off. Armed with a tremendous first serve to go along with his strokes, Stewart has decimated the competition. Despite his 5-foot-11 inch, 160-pound frame, he often overpowers his opponents, leaving them not so much frustrated as bewildered.

``What's great about Doug's game is that he has the ability to pick it up a level whenever he needs to,'' Malibu coach John McCampbell said. ``He's simply way better than last year. He's also the most mentally tough high school player I've ever seen.''

That mental toughness was put on display in Stewart's first match Thursday against Brentwood's Eric McKean. Stewart was overhitting the ball early on and quickly fell 4-2 behind McKean, himself ranked in the top 50 in the nation among players 18 and under.

``My mental approach has gotten better this year,'' said Stewart, who this season was named a high school All-American, ``but I think it's something that I've always had. I was always small for my age, so I had to get used to playing people who were bigger than I was. One of the ways I did that was by becoming mentally tougher.''

It's an approach McKean, a junior who is good friends with Stewart, hopes to add to his arsenal before his high school career is through.

``Losing to Doug isn't very frustrating,'' said McKean, who also trains with Stewart. ``He's definitely the toughest guy I've ever played and it's good to see that I'm almost right there with him. I just have to get mentally strong like he does.''

- Nevin Barich 

In other Southern Section playoffs:

--Hoover 18, Schurr 0: Singles players Dylan Kim, Sam Tadevosian, Sergy Vagramian each won their respective games and subs Vahe Kassabian and Robert Abedian each won a set for visiting Hoover of Glendale (21-1) in the Division I victory.

Hoover (21-1) will play Diamond Bar on Wednesday in the next round at a time and site to be determined today.

``This is certainly the best team I've ever experienced,'' said Hoover coach Lynn Santamaria, who's in her 11th season with the school. ``The depth we have is great and that's what makes us so tough. We're just going to take it one round at a time.''

--Calabasas 15, Magnolia 3: Calabasas' Gary Sacks swept his sets, beating Brent Catolico 6-0, Joon Park 6-1 and Danny Gonzalez 6-0 in the Division IV game at home.

``Gary played real well,'' Calabasas coach Wayne Quigley said.

Jake Smith, the No. 2 player, also swept his matches and No. 3 Allen Lee won two of three, dropping a set to Park 2-6 for Calabasas (16-3).

--Whitney 9, St. Francis 9: St. Francis of La Canada lost in games 72-68 in the Division V match at Freemont Tennis Center in Glendale.

In prep softball:

--Providence 3, San Gabriel Mission 0: Candice Koeth struck out seven in a no-hitter and had two hits for the Pioneers of Burbank (12-10), who got RBI from Stefanie Cowan and Morgan Mayreis in a Southern Section Division V victory over the visiting Matadors (10-9).