REDLANDS, CA — "Off the schneid" is an American expression that means to break a scoreless streak. It is derived from the card game gin rummy, where schneid or schneider refers to the situation where one side has failed to score.] "We never 'failed to score, or we would not have made the championship match three previous times" says, KOach Kirk. "I was beginning to feel like the Jim Kelly of the OC, three times a charm didn't pan out either and our 1st championship loss was also the day before our banquet. Now I feel like the Miami Dolphins of the OC!"

San Juan Capistrano, CA — 13-5 ! JSerra is headed back to the CIF Championships.

Rancho Cucamonga, CA — The Lions went on the road today and defeated the Los Osos Grizzlies 11-7. This was a complete team effort as doubles supplied 6 sets, the singles guys posting 5. Alex Brown/Mikey Junge, Connor Faul/Mike Geffre, Cade Faul/Marco Belciano all took care of the Grizz' line 2 and 3 doubles team for 6 sets. Brady Schaefgen and Riley Anson picked up 2 each and Cole Carlson added the 5th.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — The boys kept their Miami dreams alive with a resounding home victory over the Calabasas Coyotes, 16-3. This was a 2nd round event as the Lions earned a 1st round buy via a well-earned #2 seeding.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Epic win for undefeated season!

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Mathematically, JSerra clinched the league championship with a solid 15 - 3 victory over Servite at home. KOach asked for a big opening act, got it, 5 -1 in round one, but the boys one-upped that with a 6 - 0 closing act! Sandwiched in between was a 4-2 second round.

Lakewood, CA — The Lions traveled up the 405 to Lakewood and defeated Bosco 17 - 1.

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA — Wow! EPIC comeback, 24 hours after Lions baseball does same thing in their house!

Costa Mesa, CA — Today was a tough assignment as the Lions come of a 10 day vacay of frolicking in the sand, sun, snow around the globe. "It's always a chore to see who played and who didn't," says KOach, but, once they start serving, I can tell right away." The chore in this assignment was moving people around a little switching some teams up and even swapping some deuce/ad positions.

Fullerton, CA — Historically, the Fullerton tennis Center has not been good to us, but, today we got a little love from her.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Bosco traveled with a full team this year, they only had 4 players at home when we played last year

San Juan Capistrano, CA — The Lions stuck to our script today and put a hurt on the blue kool aid man, 10-8.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — JSerra opened up Trinity League play and the boys put a big hurt on OLu straight out of the gate, sweeping 5 of the 6 sets. Thinking that was a pretty good pattern, they repeated it in rounds two and three. Line 1 singles was in doubt for a bit as Brady had to come back from a break down, he groveled his way into a tiebreaker, powered his spinach, "I am what I am" and took the tiebreaker easily. His opponent never recovered from this and Cole walked all over him in the 2nd round, 6-2. Singles players went 3-2-1 for total of 9 sets, Emilio picking up opening round one victory at line 3.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — The varsity boys came out swinging today and didn't let up! Not as strong as previous years and missing 2 starters, Crean competed well at line 1 dubs and 2 dubs with a legit freshman in singles.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Varsity boys tennis keep on truckin' and they don't even know it!

Dana Point, CA — JSerra moves to 3 and OH early in the 2024 campaign. Dana Hills Dolphins fielded three very strong singles players who Brady and Cole took care of, taking 5 sets! Stars of the day were JSerra's doubles teams, the Faul Twins, Mikey and Marco and Emilio and Hudson were relentless sweeping ALL 9 sets giving up a mere 11 games. These guys are ALL MVP's of this 14 - 4 'victory at sea'! Brady was down 0-4 in the last round fighting back vs #1 Dolphin, Hans... Brady resurfaced and took the tiebreaker for the win.. 7- 6 [7-2]. Freshman Alex Brown competed very well at line #2 singles... and Cole was amazing! Varsity has the day off tomorrow, back next week vs Tesoro then San Juan Hills!

San Juan Capistrano, CA — JSerra unleashed a powerful Pride of Lions today on their home battlefield over Foothill of Tustin. In their 2nd outing of this young season, JSerra fielded 3 freshman at line1and 3 singles, the other as 1/2 the top doubles team; Riley Anson, Alex Brown and Michael Geffre respectively. Foothill is historically one of the top teams in OC and always in CIF contention. KOach Kirk does not like to give "bulletin board fodder" but notes,"This is probably our strongest boys team ever, I've got a good feeling! I really love the collegiate atmosphere, brought about by our awesome facility, fantastic fans; parents, grandparents, friends and family support, coupled with the cohesiveness of this young team. It's an amazing environment to have a team buy into the same goal together and makes my 'job' fun!"

San Juan Capistrano, CA — The 2024 Boys varsity tennis opened up with a big win yesterday at home, versus El Toro.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Great Season! So Far!

Newport Coast, CA — The Lions stayed the course today after dropping first round, 1 - 5.

Fullerton, CA — JSerra clinched the outright Trinity League Championship today in the most epic fashion!

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Almost pulled off a dozen bagels today.... Braves only forfeited 6 sets today, instead of the 12 sets they did last time!

San Juan Capistrano, CA — 'Winning Ugly' is a tennis booked penned by Brad Gilbert. The Lions were the front page of this book today! BUT, got it done in the next to last set...Mickey and Marco, pulled off a huge upset in one of the only 2 doubles sets captured by our duos. Today was a 7 set sweep by single players; Zach and Brady took 3 each and Cole grounded an Eagle for the second time.

Fountain Valley, CA — Trap games are no fun, especially away in 30+ mph wind gales. Very worrisome start as JSerra had trouble getting out of the gates. Down in two pivotal sets, JSerra put the stop to the skids, turned the tide with some timely service breaks to take round 1, 4-2. Rounds 2 and 3 both followed suit for a 8-, round 2 lead and a 12-6 finale. The matches were much tighter than the score shows and KOach felt fortunate to avoid the trap door.

Anaheim, CA — Great revenge game today! Last time the Lions were at OLu, we lost on a 9-9, 73-34 game count verdict, which kept us from the CIF playoffs.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — JSerra doubles carried their weight today, but, it wouldn't have mattered had Zach not upset Servite's top player in the 2nd round! Brady was on Mission Possible ll as he again, in24 hours, takes 6 sets of 6. Duos = Joe Bond playing against his old school with Cade; they posted a round 1 win that basically won the match for us in the beginning. The Charlie/Cade, Gary/Connor and Mikey/Marco proceeded to capture 4 of the last 6 doubles sets for a total of 9 to cinch the final.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Best opener ever... 14 - 4 over Mater Dei sets the tone for the season as the Lions venture into Trinity League play. "Not gonna lie" states KOach, I was worried until kickoff, then I was fine, kinda sensed it during warmups to be honest. But, we had a GREAT collegiate-like practice Monday, our best of the season, and that is when I felt calm." The coaching staff worked hard to get the boys there, the rest was up to them. "We can only do so much, then they need to get out and play."

San Juan Capistrano, CA — The Lions broke the breakers today, quite a few times..

SANTA ANA, CA — but, we did gang up on Foothill today, beating one of OC's strongest teams, year in and year out.

Huntington Beach, CA — Back to our roots as JSerra traveled to Huntington Beach High School, where the Orahood brothers started there long-tenured tennis journies and short lived football 'careers'. Keith, Kent and I played on these courts for 2 years before Edison HS was built; Keith and I had spring football for the Chargers, on the grass we walked by and I even got cut from basketball on those outdoor courts we trapesed across. Flood of memories for us eveytime we visit, more reason for us to perform well. "We like to win here," states KOach Kirk, "but, 'Bradyless in HB' made for tough sailing." JSerra's doubles teams could only conjure up 1 set, which wasn't enough to help out a great singles outing. Gary with Connor were cruising vs HB's line 3 dubs when they 'tapped out' with an 'injury'. Our doubles suffered 2 real close tiebreaker losses which could have teetered in either direction, but in the other 6 sets that we lost, the Lions only totaled only 12 out of 54 games. "We will be looking inward to find a long-term solution for our duos."

Irvine, CA — JSerra varsity tennis moves to 4 wins no losses on the year with a 14-4 victory in Irvine, over Crean Lutheran. The Saints have a very formidable line 1 doubles and 2 strong singles, their team is stronger than the score suggests. Zach and Brady captured their customary 3 set sweeps which Gary and Connor matched in their doubles sets. Just like yesterdays post, "there's your 9 right there". Marco and Charlie picked up 2 doubles sets. Emilio and HB subbed in, taking a round 3 doubles set. BUT, best for last, Mikey Junge provided all the entertainmet in round 3, coming from behind 1-5, forcing a tiebreaker, fought off several match points, before succumbing 7-9 in the breaker. "Apparently", there was a dog kennel close by and it was very disruptive for both players.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Hard to believe KOach was worried during round 1 that this was going to be 'Bad Day at Black Rock'...but, the LIONS rebounded quickly in round 2, and Tesoro's coach subbed liberally between round 2 and 3 ....aka, threw in the towel as JSerra picked up their 9th set prior to the 3rd round. Great sweeps by Zach and Brady and at line 1 dubs with Gary and Connor; there's your 9 right there. Subs, HB Warner in singles and Peter Zang with Hudson Aase added to the total.. HB's record is 4-1 in his inaugural year as a Lion netter. Also, Mikey/Marco may have picked up MVP honors had they remained in for round three. KOach was really happy with Caden Faul who lost 2 real close matches in his singles debut this year. AND happy with Cole and Charlie who pulled out a heated set at line 2 after dropping their opening set vs line 3.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Visiting Coach Richard Kosai stepped up to add this fill-in match for our JV boys after we found out we lost 6 Trinity League matches due to 3 schools not fielding JV teams. And then that happened to his team just this week! So the extra match, as lopsided as it was, helped out both programs.

Newport Coast, CA — In a rematch vs Sage, the boys came up a little short today, but there was some great individual efforts. Brian Chi swept 2 of the 2 SINGLES sets he played, which is great because he usually plays doubles. He toyed with his opponents, kinda like a cat 'n mouse-type thing before putting them away. Kenney Perez also won both of his doubles sets with different partners! [Max Chiotis ans Jordan Gessin. This trio went 5-6, 6-5 and 6-4; tiebreakers played at 5-all. Max with Jordan vs Sage's line #1 duo barely lost in the tiebreaker or this would have been a clean sweep. Luke had a tough loss to Sage #1 line, then handily beat the line#3 player 6-2 before being subbed out. "He is striking the ball very solidly from the back court and not reluctant to move into the net. This will bode well for future doubles play" says KOach Kirk.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — The JV boys competed very well, but, came up a set short. "In a regular 6x6 format, with singles and doubles, this would be a Lion victory", says KOach Kirk,. "The main indicator being our sweep of La Quinta's #1 doubles team 6-4, 7-5, 6-0."JSerra lost a tight match at line 2 doubles, 5-7 which would have been the swing state!