Lazenby Wins Tennis Title

Having suffered his only loss in leading the St. Matthew’s tennis squad to the Pacific Basin League semifinals, eighth-grader George Lazenby was determined to make amends at last Wednesday’s PBL Singles Tournament at UCLA’s Sycamore courts and the Falcons’ No. 1 seed did just that, winning four matches to claim the championship after losing in the finals last spring.

Lazenby, son of retired women’s pro tennis player Pam Shriver and actor George Lazenby, who played James Bond in 1969’s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” won his first-round match against Archer’s Francie Wallack, 6-0, beat Henry Wou of Willows 6-2 in the quarterfinals,  beat Audrey Chang of Archer 6-1 in the semifinals and beat Julian Rousseau of Geffen Academy 6-2 in the final.

George’s brother Sam won his first-round match 6-3 versus Taylor Tejera of New Roads before falling in the quarterfinals to No. 2 Capp Gordon of Windward, who dealt George his only loss, 8-6, in dual play. George, who graduated from Village School and hopes to play basketball and tennis at Palisades High in the fall, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in March of 2017. He has excelled anyway, helping St. Matthew’s to a flag football title in the fall and a basketball title in the winter. Staying physically active each day has helped him manage his disorder.

In doubles, Jasie Belden and Jonah Choi won their play-in match 6-1 before falling in the first round while Elena Roby and Liam Findley won 6-4 in the first round but fell in the quarterfinals.

The St. Matthew’s roster also included eighth-graders Julia Momtazee, Morgan Richards,  Alexa Trapani and Chiara Umekubo; seventh-graders Walter Burkley, Jonah Choi, Callie Davis, Emily Doble, Audrey Kinnear, Kaitlin Lazenby (Sam’s twin sister) and Lidya Yirgu; and sixth-graders Ian de Haan and Rocco October-Weinberg. Coaching the Falcons were Pam Shriver and Michael Oliviero.

Track & Field

The St. Matthew’s boys team racked up 89 points to earn its first Pacific Basin League team crownsince 2015 while the girls tied for sixth place with 28 points.   

Pacing the boys’ victory was was sprinter Parker Turner, who won the 100 meters in 11.99 seconds and the 200 meters in 25.02 (going undefeated in both events this season) and ran the anchor leg on the Falcons’ 4×100 relay (also featuring Declan Forest, Davis White and Max Stern), which took first place in 49.48 to finish the spring undefeated in six meets.

Stern took third in the 100 (in 12.92) and 200 (in 26.43), Nuzzy Sykes clocked 2:29.34 for third in the 800, Chris McCarthy ran third in the 1600 in 5:31.51 and White got third in the high jump with a height of five feet, two inches.

Medal winners for the girls were Sophie Gilford (third in the 800 in 2:42.02); Kate Sullivan (second in the 1600 in 6:14.93); and high jumpers Saskia Santos and Riley Vincent, who tied for third at 4-4.

Rounding out the boys and girls teams were Lucy Bowden, Jessie Silletti, Lyric Walker, Avery Boccella, Mason DiLullo, Ruby Elliott, Johhny Gaskill, Milla Klostermann, Kiki McKenzie, Georgia Miller, Dominic Munakash, Asher Rawlins, Thomas Wynperle, Reilly Davis, Juliana Camara, Katie Chambers, Jamo Hancock, Nolan Miller, Dominick Quintero and Chloe Wyruch. 

Boys Volleyball

The Falcons (9-1) soared to the Delphic League A Division title by sweeping Chaminade, 25-18, 25-22, in last Thursday’s final at Sprague Gym.

Guided by coaches Ann Toley Jones and Emmet Power, the roster included Kai Bekins, Aidan Flintoft, Spencer Graves, Wade Nieman, James Rockwell, Gabe Nissen, Blake Pecsok, Boyer Tooley and Cole Zytko. In the semifinals the Falcons  swept Harvard-Westlake, 25-11, 25-17.