Thanks in large part to the contributions of Palisadians Walker Kehrer and Casey Grindon, the Brentwood boys’ tennis team defeated Beverly Hills, 10-8, to win the CIF Southern Section Division III title May 28 at The Claremont Club. Kehrer, the Eagles’ top player, swept his three sets in dominating fashion to keep Brentwood well ahead on games. Kehrer set the tone with a 6-1 victory over the Normans’ top player, sophomore Daniel Ho, who nearly upset Kehrer at the Ojai tournament in April. “He’s a very good player when he’s on,” said Kehrer, now a junior, who played doubles his freshman year when Brentwood routed Beverly Hills 16-2 to win the Division IV title. “He had a match point on me in the third set there [at Ojai] so I knew I had to step it up today. I was very nervous the first couple of games but I got off to a quick start and that helped.” Chris Lord sealed the deal by upsetting Ho, 7-5, to give Brentwood its 10th point. Meanwhile, Grindon paired with Caleb Baer to win two out of three sets at No. 2 doubles. Brentwood (18-6) had beaten Beverly Hills by the same score in the regular season so Coach Lee Herzog did little tinkering with his lineup. His faith in Grindon and Jackson Isaacs, who swept his three sets at No. 1 doubles with Danny Sharon, was rewarded. “I figured we needed strong singles to win this thing and I had faith that my best doubles guys, Jackson and Casey, could win no matter who I paired them with,” Herzog said. “So I split them up with different partners. It was a bit of a gamble but it payed off.” Ethan Bond and Ujay Singh won two of three sets at No. 1 doubles for the No.2-seeded Normans (20-5), who lost their third section final in four years. It was Brentwood’s 11th consecutive appearance in a final.
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