OJAI VALLEY TENNIS TOURNAMENT: THACHER MOVE TALK OF TOURNEY DECISION THROWS CIF FOR A LOOP.

Byline: ERIK BOAL

Special to the Daily News

OJAI -- Contrary to what some aficionados might believe, there were plenty of matches played Thursday at the 107th annual Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament.

Former Glendale High standout Robert Yim advanced to the quarterfinals in the men's open draw. Glendale Community College's Dylan Kim demonstrated why he is the top seed in the men's community college draw by blanking his opponent. And USC and UCLA both had their share of impressive results in the Pacific-10 Conference Championships.

But the more than 1,100 entries who took to the courts for first- and second-round contests at 40 venues scattered across Ojai, Oak View, Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Ventura were all seemingly playing second-fiddle to one athlete who didn't play a single point -- Ryan Thacher.

Players, coaches, officials, parents and spectators weighed in on the absence of one of the country's most successful high school and junior tennis player, who chose late Wednesday to withdraw from the CIF singles event to catch up on schoolwork at Harvard-Westlake of Studio City. The decision came about after Thacher recently missed several days to compete in prestigious USTA tournaments in Carson and Rancho Mirage.

Emotions ran the gamut regarding Thacher's decision, which created a huge hole at the top of the singles draw, with no time for CIF officials to shuffle players around in an attempt to create a more balanced event after Southern Section assistant commissioner Paul Castillo was notified shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday.

"The coaches need to know that they need to pass along that information before the draw comes out Tuesday, not the morning of the event," Castillo said. "It was definitely something I didn't want to hear this morning.

"Theoretically, (with Ryan's absence) the No. 4 seed has an easier path to the finals than the Nos. 2 or 3 seeds."

Orange High's Steve Johnson, the No. 2 seed, defeated Thacher in last year's Southern Section individual final. Although the friends and occasional doubles partners have squared off in USTA events since, Johnson was looking forward to another showdown in Saturday's final.

"Steve and Ryan talked a lot about them playing in the finals at Libbey (Park)," said Johnson's father, Steve Sr. "When (Ryan) lost (in the first round) at Easter Bowl, Steve and I thought for sure he was coming to Ojai, and if Steve won it, he wanted to do so playing Ryan in the finals. Ryan's a tough challenge and he and Steve have a lot of respect for each other, so it's disappointing to see that he's not here."

Harvard-Westlake coach Chris Simpson was subject to criticism for not conveying Thacher's decision to CIF officials in a more timely manner. There was even discussion among other high school coaches that the Wolverines could be subject to future probation at Ojai because of Thacher's withdrawal.

Although Thacher wasn't the only player who didn't compete Thursday -- Chadwick of Rancho Palos Verdes' Austin Chafetz and doubles teams from Torrey Pines of San Diego and Campbell Hall of North Hollywood also withdrew -- his decision affected the landscape of the draw the most.

"Ryan made a tough decision. I know it's not a popular one with the officials, but he had to do what's best for him," Simpson said. "But you have to give credit to the other players who are here competing. There's still a lot of great tennis being played."

SCTA official Darren Potkey -- in charge of supervising the CIF and Division III college draws at Ojai -- understood Thacher's position, having watched him take on a grueling schedule at the USTA International Spring Championships and the Easter Bowl in the past three weeks.

"I know where he's at because I had the same schedule he did," Potkey said. "Obviously for the sake of the (tournament), we'd all like to see Ryan here because he's playing so well and he's such a great kid. It's a hard decision to make, but sometimes you just need a break."

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