Brunkow Makes CIF Singles Final at Ojai

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Something about the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament brings out the best in Lorenzo Brunkow.

Last year, he won the Boys 16-and-under singles division, upsetting top-seeded Mario Garcia of San Diego, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3) in the finals.

This year, the Topanga resident represented Palisades Charter High School in the CIF singles bracket, and once again he advanced to the final as the No. 2 seed and once again he met the No. 1 seed—Corona del Mar senior Niels Hoffmann—in the Saturday afternoon, April 27, championship match at Libbey Park.

Hoffmann prevailed 6-1, 6-3 and benefited from extra rest time after his semifinal opponent, Mason Bui from Yorba Linda, retired due to injury after losing the first set 6-1 that morning.

Meanwhile, Brunkow had to use all of his guile and change of pace to get past Palos Verdes heavy hitter William Lokier, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in a match that took two and a half hours.

Brunkow downed Jeremy Sieben of Flintridge Prep 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals Friday, April 26, at Ojai Athletic Club after a walkover against Mater Dei’s James Krantz, who retired with an injury with Brunkow up a service break, 4-2, in the first set.

Brunkow got a walkover in the first round and swept Ethan Jacob of Northwood, 6-1, 6-3 in the round of 32.

In the CIF doubles bracket, Pali High’s Neel Joshi and Caleb Scott got a tough draw but won their first-round match 6-1, 6-1 against a duo from Ayala before falling 7-5 in the decisive third set to Palos Verdes’ Keoni Brady and Dolan Leman in the second round.

In that same division, Palisadians Braun Levi and Cooper Schwartz of Loyola reached the quarterfinals, dropping four games in their first two matches before outlasting Edison’s Dylan Trinh and Kai Stolaruk 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-3 in the round of 16. In the Elite Eight, the Cubs’ junior duo fell to eventual finalists Caleb Settles and Mateen Ghafarshad of Claremont, 6-2, 6-2.

In the Boys’ 14s, Palisadian Boone Casady lost in the first round to seventh-seeded Henry Dennison, 7-6 (3), 6-4 while his brother Ford lost to sixth-seeded Levi Jefferson of Westlake Village, 6-1, 6-1. In the Girls’ 14s, Chloe Schiff won Friday’s opening match 6-3, 6-0 but lost in a super tiebreaker to Madison Truong of Chino later that day.

In the Girls’ 16s, Emily Stutsman of Harvard-Westlake won her first match 7-6 (1), 6-3 before losing to the No.3 seed Delilah Rizvi from Newbury Park while Palisadian Charlotte Reed fell in the first round to No. 8-seeded Yuktaa Pandit. Pali High sophomore Ella Engel got into the Girls’ 18s singles bracket and played tough in a 6-2, 7-6 (1) loss to Taylor Stadjuhar of Colorado Springs.