Hibbard shines on Day 1 of South Area boys tennis tournament

Watching Calvin Hibbard play tennis on Friday went to a different level when the top-seeded singles player from Tehachapi started hitting highlight-reel shots.

The Warriors’ junior drew a crowd, the most vocal of whom were other players, bringing them to life on Court 1 with a variety of dazzling between-the-leg shots, overhead smashes and cross-court winners.

When all was said and done, Hibbard had earned a spot in the quarterfinals at the two-day South Area qualifying tournament at Stockdale with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over West High’s Alfredo Flores.

“It was fun,” Hibbard said. “The guy I was playing is really good. He was running me all over the place. The shots he was hitting … He was lobbing the ball and it kind of made it easy to take shots like that. It looks like I’m trying to show off, but that’s just kind of how I’ve been practicing (returning the lob).”

Not a bad showing for someone who missed six months of training and part of the season after dropping a bench vice on his hand in August.

“I didn’t play any preseason matches because of the injury and went straight into league play,” said Hibbard, whose hand was in a cast for several weeks.

Although he looked in prime form on Friday, Hibbard says he’s still working himself into shape and using the Area tournament to get more reps as he hopes to improve on last year’s loss in the section quarterfinals.

“I feel like I’m playing pretty good,” Hibbard said. "My serve has improved a lot, but I feel like my groundstrokes were better last year.”

He will face No. 8 Nathan Oesch from Bakersfield High at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the winner qualifying for next week’s Central Section championships in San Luis Obispo.

The top four singles players and doubles teams will qualify for the section tournament.

Things went pretty much as planned on Friday, with seven of the top eight seeded singles players reaching the quarterfinals, and 11 of the top 12 doubles teams still in contention. Second-round doubles play starts at 8 a.m. Saturday, with the quarterfinal round for both singles and doubles set for 10 a.m.

In singles play, Hibbard, No. 2 Cade Hiebert of Bakersfield Christian, No. 3 Clayton Villarreal of Frontier, No. 4 Andrej Dojcinovski of Stockdale, No. 6 David Hair of BCHS and Oesch all won their second-round matches in straight sets.

Matches between No. 7 Rafael Pantoja of Arvin and No. 10 Arek Plate of Liberty, and No. 12 Crismay Alvarez of Independence and No. 5 Bryan Tran of Bakersfield Christian were much more hotly contested.

Pantoja had to rally from 5-3 down in the third set to beat Plate 7-6 with a 7-4 tiebreaker, using every last second of his available time between points along the way.

The one upset came moments later when Alvarez recovered from a late leg cramp to close out his match with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Tran.

Alvarez opened the day with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Delano’s David Vasquez and then changed his strategy to try to gain an advantage against Tran.

The plan was to just push the ball over the net and make Tran work, Alvarez said, and it worked in the opening set.

“I completely changed it up from my first game,” said Alvarez, who only started playing tennis last year. “I felt like it was Bryan Tran, a higher UTR opponent … I just observed his games previously and kind of figured out what I needed to do. I wanted to tire him out and try to outlast him. It’s more of just relying on the opponent making mistakes and not going for the winners. That’s too risky, especially against opponents like Bryan Tran.”

But Tran recovered in the second set and tied the match, forcing Alvarez to change things up again in the finale.

“He got some coaching and countered it, but my coach told me better ways I could push the ball, push high and push to his backhand,” said Alvarez, who suffered a painful cramp leading 40-30 and serving to go up 5-3 in the third set. “And that helped me win the match.”

Alvarez will now face Dojcinovski, with hopes of reaching the section tournament with another victory.

“It means a lot,” Alvarez said. “I just want to keep going and make it to Valley in my last year.”

Central Section South Area boys tennis tournament

Friday’s Day 1 results; At Stockdale High School

Singles

First round: Alfredo Flores, West d. Eric Nahama, Bakersfield, 6-0, 6-1; No. 9 Isaac Ocampo, Wasco d. Jesus Ortiz, South, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5; No. 8 Nathan Oesch, Bakersfield d. John Paul Flores, Stockdale, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; No. 5 Bryan Tran, Bakersfield Christian d. Abdiel Arroyo, Mira Monte, 6-2, 6-3; No. 12 Crismay Alvarez, Independence d. David Vasquez, Delano, 6-3, 6-3; Alejandro Castaneda, Mira Monte d. Eduardo Payan, Kennedy, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5); No. 4 Andrey Dojcinovski, Stockdale d. Luis Ortega, Delano, 6-0, 6-0; No. 3 Clayton Villarreal, Frontier d. James Adamson, Tehachapi, 6-0, 6-1; Kyle Oluoch, Stockdale d. Zion Ortiz, Arvin, 6-0, 6-0; No. 11 Jaden Lee, Liberty d. Seth Usrey, Taft, 6-0, 6-0; No. 6 David Hair, Bakersfield Christian d. Jose Rodriguez, South, 6-0, 6-1; No. 7 Rafael Pantoja, Arvin d. Antonio Maldonado, Wasco, 6-3, 6-1; No. 10 Arek Plate, Liberty, 6-0, 6-0; Octavio Dionico, Golden Valley d. Angel Gallardo, East, 6-0, 6-0. Byes: No. 1 Calvin Hibbard, Tehachapi; No. 2 Cade Hiebert, Bakersfield Christian.

Second round: Hibbard d. Flores, 6-0, 6-1; Oesch d. Ocampo, 6-2, 6-0; Alvarez d. Tran, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3; Jojcinovski d. Castaneda, 6-0, 6-2; Villarreal d. Oluoch, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4); Pantoja d. Plate, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4); Hiebert d. Dionico, 6-0, 6-1.

Saturday’s singles semifinals, 10 a.m. start

No. 1 Hibbard vs. No. 8 Oesch; No. 12 Alvarez vs. No. 4 Dojcinovski; No. 3 Villarreal vs. No. 6 Hair; No. 7 Pantoja vs. No. 2 Hiebert.

Doubles

First round: Jobert Vios/Mason Carrera, Kennedy d. Yakrib Alshaif/Karlos Avila, Arvin, 6-3, 6-3; No. 9 Landon Huff/Ishaan Ghai, Centennial, d. Hector Cruz/Jan D. Martinez, Golden Valley, 6-1, 6-1; Adrian Araya/Stephen Underwood, Bakersfield Christian d. No. 8 John Igayac/Isaiah Vargas, Chavez; No. 5 Chancy Boggs/Eber Diaz, West d. Nicholas Contreras/Luke Litchfield, Wasco, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; No. 12 Sean Ryan Sandifer, Bakersfield, d. Jaime Peralta/Adrian Duran, Golden Valley, 6-1, 6-0; Damian Gonzalez/Erik Servin, East d. Israel Rodriguez/Anthony Parra, Arvin, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1; No. 4 Keen Nguyen/Luca Garone, Liberty, d. Diego Garcia/Rhyen Flores, Foothill, 6-1, 6-1; No. 3 Malcolm Hess/Maddox Dumatrait, Bakersfield d. Max Pineda/Jayden Rodriguez, West, 6-0, 6-0; Evan Mitchell/Ryan James, Liberty d. Eric Castillo/Sergio Acosta, Wasco, 6-3, 7-5; Beckham Rader/Eugene Mokri, Bakersfield Christian d. No. 11 Anthony Jimenez/Alex Newkirk, East, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3); No. 6 Jacob Cove/Himanshu Wahi, Liberty d. John Nicholas/Jose Sanchez, Chavez, default; No. 7 Evan Noel/Ryan Rosales, Bakersfield d. Andres Acevedo/Nathan Avila, West, 6-2, 6-3; No. 10 Andres Balderos/Oscar Serrano, Golden Valley d. Jose Ortega/Nathaniel Castillo, Delano, 7-5, 6-3; Nick Norris/Jeffrey Ren, Stockdale d. Christian Valencia/Noah Cervantes, East, 6-4, 6-2. Byes: No. 1 Zeb Duket/Austin Cusator, Bakersfield Christian; No. 2 Brysen Limpias/Josh Pacheco, Garces.

Saturday’s second round doubles match-ups, 8 a.m. start; semifinals at 10 a.m.

No. 1 Duket/Cusator vs. Vios/Carrera; No. 9 Huff/Ghai vs. No. 8 Araya/Underwood; No. 5 Boggs/Diaz vs. No. 12 Sandifer/Carrisalez; Gonzalez/Servin vs. No. 4 Nguyen/Garone; No. 3 Hess/Dumatrait vs. Mitchell/James; Rader/Mokri vs. No. 6 Cove/Wahi; No. 7 Noel/Rosales vs. No. 10 Balderos/Cerrano; Norris/Renn vs. No. 2 Limpias/Pacheco.