First year of Bonsall High School tennis ends at CIF tournament

Bonsall High School has had athletics since the 2015-16 seasons but did not have a tennis team until this spring when the Legionnaires had enough players for boys tennis competition.

Bonsall sophomore Jeffrey Roback and junior Connor Newton placed high enough in the league tournament to qualify for the CIF individual tournament while senior Tanner Dugas and freshman Garret Murphy qualified for the CIF tournament as a doubles team.

"That was kind of a nice surprise," Bonsall coach Larry Jestice said of having three entries in the CIF tournament. "They came into the season with absolutely no expectations at all."

The Legionaries had 12 players on the 2019 roster: eight boys and four girls. "We were co-ed this year," Jestice said.

Bonsall did not have tennis for the school's first three seasons of athletics. "We had tried for maybe three or four years to get a team together at Bonsall, but we couldn't get a lot of players," Jestice said.

Jestice had been the director of tennis at the San Luis Rey Downs club for two decades. "I knew a lot of people in the Bonsall area and was connected to the tennis," he said.

Bonsall is in the Patriot League. During the dual meet season the Legionnaires posted an 8-2 record, which was worth second place in the league.

"I was proud of the guys and the girls," Jestice said.

Jestice had few experienced players on the team. "The first day of practice it was kind of a reality check," he said.

One of the losses was an April 11 match against High Tech High San Diego on the Barnes Tennis Center courts. Each team won nine sets, but the Storm had a 72-66 advantage in games and won the match on that tiebreaker.

An April 15 trip to Chula Vista resulted in High Tech High Chula Vista, who utilized the Hilltop High School courts, prevailing in an 11-7 match.

"We were close every match," Jestice said.

"It was nice to see the kids come through," Jestice said. "It's a big start and gives us a lot of room for encouragement next year."

Bonsall was unable to schedule any non-league matches for 2019. "I would like to get as many matches as we can next year," Jestice said.

The Patriot League held its league tournament on the Morley Field courts in San Diego, which is also where the CIF tournament took place the following week. All of the quarterfinals winners qualified for the CIF tournament, and the quarterfinals losers played backdraw matches for fifth place and the final CIF tournament berth.

"All the kids stepped up," Jestice said.

Newton lost in the quarterfinals but then won his two backdraw matches for fifth place. "He's been playing hard, tries hard," Jestice said.

Roback was seeded third in the singles competition but defeated Horizon junior and top seed Will Fallmer in the semifinals. That gave Roback a finals match against High Tech High Chula Vista senior Paolo Alvarez, who won the league championship.

"Jeff was outstanding. He tried hard. He had a tough draw," Jestice said.

Roback still advanced to the CIF tournament while garnering second-place league honors. "Jeffrey is a very solid player. He works hard," Jestice said. "He's a gamer. He goes out and plays hard, so it's good to see him rewarded for that."

Dugas and Murphy lost in the league tournament semifinals. "I thought it was pretty formidable that they were able to qualify for CIF," Jestice said.

Fallbrook Tennis Club pro Mike Amador provides private lessons to Roback, Dugas, and Murphy. "They've been working on their tennis games," Amador said.

The first two singles rounds at the CIF tournament took place May 13. Roback began the CIF tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Matthew Smith of Christian. He then played Canyon Crest senior Daniel Patel and lost a pair of 6-0 sets.

"I was really amazed at how good the talent was at CIF," Jestice said. "It was really good quality tennis, and to see Jeffrey going up against some of these guys it was not easy."

Newton lost a 6-0, 6-0 match to Coronado sophomore Isaac Del Rincon.

Doubles play at the CIF tournament began May 14. Dugas and Murphy lost a 6-1, 6-1 match to their Serra counterparts.

Jestice is originally from Ohio. After his discharge from the Air Force he joined the men's tennis pro tour and competed from 1972 to 1976. Rod Laver and Roy Emerson operated numerous tennis centers in the 1970s including the Murrieta Hot Springs courts, the San Diego Country Estates courts in Ramona, and courts near the Los Angeles airport and hired Jestice to oversee operations.

When he was the director of tennis at San Luis Rey Downs he could not devote the activity required of a high school head coach but led the instructional effort for the Linfield Christian School boys and girls players for four years.

This year Amador assisted Jestice with the Bonsall team while Jestice had duties in addition to coaching. "My experience at starting from scratch, I had quite a bit to learn," Jestice said.

Dugas was the only senior on the Bonsall team this year.

"Hopefully we'll be even better next year," Jestice said.