Hart’s Luke Papayoanou falls in second round of CIF-SS Boys Tennis Individual Championships

Hart's Luke Papayoanou serves in the second round of the CIF-SS Individual Championships. Dan Lovi/The Signal
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CARPINTERIA — The last player standing in the CIF-Southern Section Boys Tennis Individual Championships from the Foothill League, Hart sophomore Luke Papayoanou traveled to Cate School on Friday for his first taste of the CIF-SS playoffs in his young career.

Papayoanou’s first match of the morning against senior Gillis Linde of Flintridge Prep started off tight with the players going game-for-game in the first set. Papayoanou was able to push Linde around the court with accurate shots and well-executed backhand slices, but Linde used his footwork to return difficult balls.

The back-and-forth battle led to a tiebreaker in the first set, and Papayoanou fell behind 1-3 early. He regained the lead at 5-3 and went on to win the set 7-6 (8-6).

The second set was a completely different story. Papayoanou won the first two games then won the third game after a fourth deuce. He won the last three games handily, taking the second set 6-0 to advance to the second round.

“I felt pretty good, I was a little nervous in the beginning, a little tight in my forehand and backhand,” Papayoanou said. “I had more unforced errors than I should have but I still got it.”

In the next match, Papayoanou found himself playing the No. 2 seed senior Wally Thayne of Newbury Park, who had a first-round bye.

Papayoanou took a 2-1 lead in the first set, but Thayne’s powerful serve and ability to play aggressive at the net made things difficult.

The Hart sophomore did his best to return Thayne’s lightning-quick serves, but the two games he won early were the only ones Papayoanou won in the match, falling to Thayne 2-6, 0-6.

“You lose your serve the set is over, so a lot of pressure on your serve and it’s impossible to get his serves back,” Papayoanou said.

“The score doesn’t reflect the second round match. He was getting a lot of returns back, this kid was serving 120 miles an hour and hitting his spots and Luke was getting them back,” Hart head coach Allan Hardbarger said.  â€śThat’s an experience that most people would shy away from, but he really stepped up his game today and I think it will be a great experience for him going into the future.”

With two more years remaining in Papayoanou’s high school tennis career, his first experience at the CIF-SS Individual Championships provided a great learning experience.

He’ll carry that lesson into ensuing competitions, starting right away with a tournament in Northridge on Saturday and future endeavors at the CIF-SS playoffs.

“It’s good because next year I won’t be as nervous and maybe I’ll be a higher seed too so I won’t have to play a really good kid in the second round,” Papayoanou said. “It was a really fun year. We made it to CIF as a team, I made it to CIF as an individual and won a round, so it’s great.”

“This is a great experience for Luke and for me to see so many high-level players out here. Luke played a couple of great matches today,” Hardbarger said. “He fought really hard in the first one and the second one ran into a player with an amazing all-around game. Luke played well, just ran into a really good player.”

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