Special season ends in semifinals for Santa Ynez

May 18—The Santa Ynez boys tennis team was eliminated by Ojai Nordhoff 13-5 in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs on May 11.

Santa Ynez played Nordhoff at the Ojai Valley Tennis Club, the Pirates' second road match in three days.

"A great run for a great group of senior boys came to an end today," Pirates coach Nate Thompson said. "In the quarterfinal round we won all the close sets, but this round we fell short in all the close ones and that was the difference.

"It was a special season for the Pirates with 14 seniors on the team and it was great to finally make the playoffs in their last season. It's also the last season in the Channel League and CIF Southern Section. Making it to the semifinals was the icing on the cake."

Santa Ynez beat No. 3 seed Pasadena Maranatha 11-7 on May 9 in a Division 4 quarterfinal match at The Whittier Narrows Tennis Center.

"Our doubles were phenomenal today as we once again took 8 out of 9 sets in doubles," Nate Thompson said. "The stage was set in the first round as we went up 4-2 when our number three doubles team of Marc Westall and Luke Colin pulled out a close 6-4 victory over Maranatha's number three team."

The second round was even 3-3 so the Pirates were up 7-5 heading into the final round.

"Maranatha had two very good singles players that won all their sets by a large margin, so we knew we had to get to 10 games in order to win as we would be down on total games if it went 9-9," Thompson said. "At 9-7 in the third round, Marc and Luc were tied 4-4 with Maranatha's number two doubles team and our number two doubles team of Ethan Guillemin and Jace Hurnblad were tied 2-2 with Maranatha's No. 1 team."

Thompson said Westall and Colin "played the heroes" as they pulled out their set 6-4 to send Santa Ynez to victory.

"Ethan and Jace pulled out their set 7-5 to round out the scoring at 11-7," Thompson said, adding, "our number one doubles team of Micah Thomas and Charlie Hoose were dominant winning their sets 6-1, 6-2, 6-1."

Jacob Merrill, Noah Thompson and Luke Lockhart each won singles sets for the Pirates. Thomas and Hoose and Guillemin and Hurnblad each won all three of their sets while Westall and Colin won two of three.

Pirates looking for hoops coach

Santa Ynez High School has a boys varsity basketball head coach opening for the 2022-23 school year. Applications are open through May 13. For an application or questions about the position please email Athletic Director Ashley Coelho at acoelho@syvuhsd.org.

Lompoc looking for coaches

Lompoc High School is looking for head coaches for both its boys and girls water polo teams.

The school is looking for a qualified coach with previous coaching experience preferred. Candidates should have strong leadership and interpersonal relationship skills with knowledge of and the ability to teach and coach current trends in water polo at the varsity level.

Candidates must be willing to obtain current CIF required certifications in CPR/1st Aid, concussion protocol, sudden cardiac arrest awareness, heat illness prevention, child abuse reporting, sexual harassment prevention, COVID safety training, bloodborne pathogens and CIF fundamentals of coaching.

The duties and responsibilities of applicants will include helping coordinate, manage and evaluate the water polo program; communicate effectively with student athletes, staff, parents, community and media; conduct practices and competition in a manner that maximizes safety, fundamental skills, athletic improvement and personal improvement.

Candidates also must serve as an exemplary role model for high school students

The position includes a stipend: Step 1 is $3,708 and Step 2 is $4,121.

For an application and/or more information contact, Claudia Terrones, the athletic director at Lompoc High School. Her email is terrones.claudia@lusd.org and she can be reached (805) 742-3073.

Orcutt Academy coaching openings

There are a pair of varsity head coaching positions open at Orcutt Academy High School. The Spartans are looking for a head coach for their 8-man football program and a head coach for the girls golf program.

Those interested can email the athletic director at cmckenzie@orcutt-schools.net.