Thousand Oaks' McMorrow wins CIF boys' final

McMorrow needed just over an hour to beat Crossroads senior Reese Milner, 6-1, 6-3, in the finals of the CIF boys' singles division Saturday afternoon on Court 3 at Libbey Park -- a victory that was much more satisfying because his grandfather and past president of the famed tournament, William Huffman, was there to share it with him.

"Incredible!" said Huffman, who presided over The Ojai in 1979-80 and often took McMorrow to the event. Asked if he gets nervous watching his grandson play, Huffman said: "Yes. I'm always nervous."

He scarcely had enough time to get worried on Saturday. McMorrow, seeded No. 2 in the 64-player draw, sprinted to a 3-0 lead in the opening set and when he broke Milner to take a 3-2 lead in the second, it was evident to everyone watching that the coveted Farnam Cup would soon be his.

"It's great, this is a really cool tournament and this is by far the best match I played," said McMorrow, who used to live in Ojai and attended Nordhoff High. "I moved to Thousand Oaks a few years ago and this is the first year I've played high school tennis. Of course I won the Easter Bowl doubles [with Lancers teammate Denis Lin] a few weeks ago but I didn't do that great in singles so this makes up for it."

Milner had rallied from a set down in sweltering heat to knock off top-seeded Fabian Matthews of Corona del Mar in his late morning semifinal and clearly did not have enough left to pull off his second upset in five hours. The final point was a prime example, as he made little effort to chase his opponent's forehand, which bounced just inside the baseline.

"He's from SoCal so I know how he plays," McMorrow said of Milner. "He hits it deep and heavy and I came within two points of losing to him the last time we played" in the semifinals of the California Bowl in Calabasas last December.

McMorrow's triumph marked the third consecutive leap year in which a player from Thousand Oaks won the Ojai singles title, following Philip Sheng in 2000 and Sam Querrey in 2004.