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A superb ending to a perfect season.
Mater Dei boys tennis player Matteo Huarte capped an undefeated season Thursday by defeating Woodbridge’s Brady Tallakson 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4 in the singles finals at the CIF-SS individual championships at Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont.
Huarte, a junior who is committed to USC, became the first Mater Dei player since Kaes Van’t Hof in 2004 to claim the section’s individual singles crown. Van’t Hof went on to play at USC.
Earlier in the season, Huarte defeated Tallakson 7-6 (3), 6-1 for the singles title of the 124th Ojai tournament. He became the first Mater Dei singles player to capture the prestigious tournament.
Huarte is the grandson of Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte of Notre Dame, who attended Mater Dei.
In the semifinals Thursday, the top-seeded Huarte defeated Christian Rohrberg 6-2, 6-4.
Tallakson, a senior who is committed to Boise State, defeated Pacific Coast League rival JiHyuk Im 7-6 (4), 6-3 to reach his second consecutive section final.
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Last season, Andrew Johnson of Palos Verdes defeated Tallakson 6-4, 6-3 in the section finals.
In the doubles final, top-seeded Colin Bringas and Eddie Feuer of Peninsula defeated Corona del Mar’s Quynh Tran and Jack Barnes 6-1, 7-6 (5) to snap a five-year winning streak for Orange County teams in the event.
Barnes, a senior, and Tran, a freshman, became the first Corona del Mar doubles team since Jack Cross and Niels Hoffmann in 2023 to reach a section doubles final.
In the semifinals, Barnes and Tran rallied past Marina’s David Tran and Alejandro Hill 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in a clash of Sunset League foes.
In league, Marina’s Tran-Hill defeated Barnes-Tran for the doubles title.
Bringas and Feuer, who captured the Ojai title, defeated San Juan Hills’ Hans Sempre and Ryan Meis 6-2, 6-3 in the other semifinal.
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