Matteo Huarte made history as Mater Dei's first CIF singles champion at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament, defeating Brayden Tallakson 7-6 (3), 6-1. This victory follows Huarte's runner-up finish last year.
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Matteo Huarte became Mater Dei's first Ojai CIF singles champion at Libbey Park on Saturday. (Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
At a school with the rich athletic tradition of Santa Ana Mater Dei, it is rare to be the first to achieve anything, but Matteo Huarte made history Saturday by becoming the Monarchsâ only CIF singles champion at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament.
After losing in straight sets to Rishvanth Krishna from Irvine University in last yearâs final, Huarte was not about to squander his second chance. He raced to an early lead in the first-set tiebreaker, then broke to open the second set on his way to a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over Woodbridgeâs Brayden Tallakson in front of a packed grandstand at Libbey Park.
Huarte had four service breaks â the last being a cross-court passing shot on match point. The final resembled Huarte's semifinal win versus Irvine Universityâs JiHyuk Im in which he took the first-set tiebreaker 7-4 then cruised 6-2 in the second set.
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âIâm happy I was able to do it for my school,â said Huarte, a junior who has committed to USC. âWeâve played each other a couple times and the key was to manage his serve and get into the rally. Once I got ahead of him in the tiebreak and then won the first game of the second set I was able to run away with it.â
Mater Dei's only other title in the Ojai tournament's long and storied history came in doubles in 2008 when Charlie Alvarado and Chris Freeman upset top-seeded Tyler Bowman and Jon Kazarian of Peninsula in three sets.
âItâs kind of hard to believe Iâm the first to do it,â said Huarte about his singles title.
Last year, Huarte fell in the Southern Section semifinals to Palos Verdes ninth-grader Andrew Johnson, who went on to beat Tallakson 6-4, 6-3 in the final.
Matteo Huarte is a tennis player from Mater Dei who won the CIF boys' singles title at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament.
Matteo Huarte won his final match against Brayden Tallakson with a score of 7-6 (3), 6-1.
Last year, Matteo Huarte lost in straight sets to Rishvanth Krishna in the CIF singles final.
The Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament took place at Libbey Park.
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Tallakson was trying to make history of his own Saturday at a venue near and dear to his heart.
Woodbridge's Brayden Tallakson celebrates after his quarterfinal victory over Beckman's Rohan Grewal at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on Saturday. (Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
âI started playing tennis down in lower Libbey, my dad Steve grew up here and won the menâs tournament, so this place is like home for my family,â said Tallakson, who quickly downed Palisades freshman Kensho Ford 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals. âMatteo came out real aggressive, I made a couple errors on big points and he was just the better player today.â
Tallakson won the boysâ 14s division at Ojai in 2022 and had he prevailed Saturday, he would have been the first player to capture CIF singles and doubles titles at Ojai since Santa Barbaraâs Nathan Jackmon won the doubles in 1993 and the singles in 1994. Tallakson won the doubles crown in 2023 with older brother Avery, with whom he will reunite next year at Boise State.
Peninsula seniors Colin Bringas and Edward Feuer completed one of the most dominant runs through the doubles draw ever seen at Ojai by beating Harvard-Westlakeâs Aaron Chung and Chase Klugo 6-4, 6-2 in the finals. The Panthersâ duo did not drop a set in six matches and did not give up more than three games in a set until the first set Saturday when they broke in the ninth game to go up 5-4 and then served it out.
Bringas and Feuer are the first Peninsula pair to reach the CIF final at Ojai since 2011 and the third tandem in history to win it, joining Rylan Rizza and Jeff Kazarian in 2001, and Kazarian and Tiege Sullivan the following year.
Peninsula seniors Colin Bringas, left, and Edward Feuer celebrate after winning the CIF boys' doubles title at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on Saturday. (Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
âWeâve been playing together since second or third grade and weâve been best friends since middle school at Ridgecrest Intermediate [in Palos Verdes],â Bringas said. âI always play the ad side, heâs always played the deuce court. I think the key was big serves ... they make it easy for the net person to put balls away.â
Bringas and Feuer have partnered at Ojai the last three years, losing in the quarterfinal round as sophomores and juniors but steamrolling this year. They made a measly three unforced errors in a 6-1, 6-1 semifinal wipeout of Marinaâs David Tran and Alejandro Hill. Tran was playing in his second straight final, having taken the runner-up prize with Trevor Nguyen in 2025.
âWe were confident weâd win, but we felt the pressure and knew there are a lot of good teams here,â said Feuer, who plays No. 1 singles for dual matches while Bringas plays the No. 1 doubles spot with another teammate. âItâll be really strange playing against each other next year.â
Bringas is bound for Westmont College and Feuer is headed to Point Loma Nazarene â rival NCAA Division II programs in the Pacific West Conference.
Harvard-Westlake, Woodbridge and University shared the Griggs Cup trophy, presented to the school with the most combined wins in singles and doubles. All three notched seven victories to force a three-way tie for only the fifth time since the award debuted in 1955 and the first since Santa Barbara, Palisades and Fresno Bullard were tri-champions in 1997. University has won it 13 times.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.