Photo by Eric Parsons

Thousand Oaks High's Kyle McMorrow returns the ball during his victory in the Boys' CIF final at Libbey Park.

Hot and breezy didn't merely apply to the weather in Ojai on Saturday.

It's a pretty neat description of the way Kyle McMorrow played on the final day of The Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament.

The Thousand Oaks High junior summoned his best tennis of the three-day juniors' competition and breezed to the championship of the Boys' CIF division with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Reese Milner of Crossroads in the final match.

Wielding his serve-and-volley approach like a hammer, McMorrow controlled the match with his serve, volley and groundstrokes, particularly a lethal forehand.

Yep, it was virtually a complete game that earned him the championship.

"It feels great," he said while brandishing a broad smile. "I played well today. I wanted to be aggressive and take control on the points. That's how it worked out."

Earlier in the morning, McMorrow earned his berth in the final with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Walker Kehrer of Brentwood.

McMorrow becomes the third Thousand Oaks High boys' player to win the prestigious title in 108 years of The Ojai. Philip Chang and Sam Querrey also won the CIF event this decade, with Querrey's title coming in 2004.

"It's honor to be in the same company with those guys," said McMorrow, who was seeded second. "What are both those guys? In the top 40 in the world?"

The Lancers junior also gave his grandfather a thrill. William Huffman was president of The Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament in 1979-80, and was on hand to see his grandson win the championship.

"Incredible," Huffman said with a smile.

Milner upset top-seeded Oscar Matthews of Corona Del Mar in the semifinals, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, but was barely in the match against McMorrow.

McMorrow never had his serve broken, while taking down Milner's serve twice in each set.

The crucial break came in Game 5 in the second set, with the set tied 2-2. McMorrow controlled his opponent's second serve, winning the rally on the final point to go up, 3-2.

The major hurdle for McMorrow turned out to be a broken shoelace, which forced stoppage of play midway through the second set. McMorrow was tied 30-30 on his serve when he looked down and saw the shoelace dangling.

"I have no idea what happened" he said. "I know that's never happened to me before."

Luckily for McMorrow, Thousand Oaks coach Dave Assorson was on the sidelines and able to remove the lace from his own shoe to outfit his player.

While McMorrrow thrived, the outcome wasn't nearly so good for fellow Thousand Oaks player Marcos Giron.

The Lancers freshman, seeded No. 1 in the Boys' 16 division, was upset in the final by eighth-seeded David Watson, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.

Watson, a native of London, has been at the Weil Academy in Ojai since August.

He built a 5-2 lead in the opening set, survived Giron's comeback to win the tiebreaker, then stayed strong in the second set to close out the win.

Watson used his groundstrokes to move Giron around, and managed to play largely error-free.

"I wanted to keep the points shorter and hold down my own mistakes," said Watson. "It's a good feeling. I've been working hard on my game."

Giron said it wasn't his best effort.

"I couldn't make shots I normally make," he said.

The Boys' and Girls' 14 divisions both turned into all-local finals.

Michael Lowe of Ventura, seeded No 1 in the boys' division, rallied for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Thomas Pecor of Ojai.

In the girls' event, top-seeded Riko Shimizu of Ojai emerged with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Sivan Krems of Thousand Oaks.

— For more information on other matches and divisions go to http://www.ojaitourney.org.