Culver Freshman Wins Singles' Championship

Culver High Freshman, Gregory Troyan won the Ocean League's Single's Championship last week at Santa Monica High. After easily beating SaMo's Nino Collias in the first round in a Pro set, 8-2, Troyan advanced to the round of sixteen to play his fellow Culver City teammate, #2 singles player, Noah Tyau.  Since they practice together, they knew each other's game very well. Troyan defeated Tyau in straight sets: 6-1, 6-1.

Advancing to the next round of eight, Troyan took on the #1 Singles player from El Segundo, Ignas Kirkila.  They had met twice before during the regular season and Gregory won both times, so it was looking good. But this match against Kirkila didn't follow course. It turned out to be a struggle for Troyan, as he dropped the first set 6-1. But, in an impressive come-from-behind effort, Troyan made crucial adjustments to his game strategy and came back with a vengeance. Troyan took the second set 6-0, forcing a 10-point tiebreaker. With renewed confidence, Troyan cruised to an easy 10-4 win.

The Ocean League finals were already scheduled to be played on Thursday April  25th between Troyan and the other finalist, Nikola Kuraica--the #1 Singles player for Santa Monica. But, Troyan won without lifting his racket, as Kuraica had to default, due to a scheduling conflict with a U-16 tournament being held in Ojai that same day and time.

Troyan finished the season with an impressive 11-2 record, firmly establishing himself as one of the best players in the Ocean League.  As a freshmen, he has tremendous talent and has one of the best all-court games Culver has seen in years.  Troyan will be playing in the CIF singles individual tournament on May 16th and is the first player to advance this far for Culver City since Seth Lewkow did it back in 2001.