SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS' TENNIS: H.-W.'S THACHER LOSES SOUTHERN SECTION CROWN IN TIEBREAKER.Byline: ERIK BOAL Special to the Daily News SEAL BEACH Seal Beach, city (1990 pop. 25,098), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; inc. 1915. It is a beach city with an active art colony. Transportation equipment and concrete are among the city's manufactures. U.S. naval stations are nearby. -- Steve Johnson Steve Johnson is the name of:
Moments later, Ryan Thacher let go of his racquet, collapsed on a bench and dropped his arms in exhaustion Exhaustion Situation in which a majority of participants trading in the same asset are either long or short, leaving few investors to take the other side of the transaction when participants wish to close their positions. . At the end of a long day that marked the conclusion of a grueling gru·el·ing also gru·el·ling adj. Physically or mentally demanding to the point of exhaustion: a grueling campaign. gru high school season for the two sophomore standouts, Orange High's Johnson was able to take advantage of a single service break Saturday to outlast out·last tr.v. out·last·ed, out·last·ing, out·lasts To last longer than. outlast Verb to last longer than Verb 1. Harvard-Westlake of Studio City's Thacher 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the championship match of the Southern Section boys' tennis tournament at Seal Beach Tennis Center. ``That was one of the best matches of my life,'' said Johnson, who broke Thacher in the eighth game of the first set, then converted two mini breaks in the tiebreaker tie·break·er n. An additional contest or period of play designed to establish a winner among tied contestants. Also called tiebreak. tie to become the first player -- male or female -- in his school's history to win a tennis title. ``This has been a goal for me since the beginning of the year, so to fulfill it is great. I'm sure it will sink in (today), but I can't describe how I feel right now.'' Thacher, who survived a tiebreaker in his semifinal showdown with West Torrance's Jason Jung to prevail 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3), made history as well by becoming Harvard-Westlake's first male athlete to compete in a tennis singles final. But the 2 1/2-hour battle with Jung -- in which he rallied from a 4-2 third-set deficit -- took its toll on Thacher, especially as the title match wore on. ``It was a grind to say the least,'' said Thacher, who recorded the opening point in the tiebreaker before relinquishing re·lin·quish tr.v. re·lin·quished, re·lin·quish·ing, re·lin·quish·es 1. To retire from; give up or abandon. 2. To put aside or desist from (something practiced, professed, or intended). 3. the next four. ``Playing back-to-back matches in one day is always tough, but to do it on a one-hour break after a 2 1/2-hour semifinal, mentally and physically it takes its toll. ``I'm not going to make excuses, because I still had my opportunities. But anytime you're in a tiebreaker, it's always up in the air. It's all about who can get the momentum and get a little lucky and then it can go either way.'' Thacher, who finished with a 53-5 set record, helped Harvard-Westlake become only the fourth program in the 52 years that the Southern Section has held boys' and girls' tournaments to have both a male and female athlete reach the title match. Hilary Barte won the girls' crown in the fall with a straight-set victory over Mission Viejo's Maggie Mello. ``I would've really liked to be the only (male) to win it, but (reaching the final) is a good achievement. I'm happy about that,'' Thacher said. erik.boal@dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 |
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