Dana Rene Bowler / Star staff Kyle McMorrow lost only two of the 63 sets he played for Thousand Oaks High during his junior season and also won the CIF title at The Oaji.

Once Kyle McMorrow made a complete commitment to tennis, it didn't take long for the Thousand Oaks High junior to recognize he had the ability to excel in the sport.

During the last four years in which he has focused strictly on tennis, McMorrow has continued to craft those skills — which include a booming serve, powerful forehand and steady two-handed backhand — to produce a few significant victories in tournaments like the CIF championship in April at The Ojai and the California Bowl last December.

This past spring, McMorrow dominated on a Thousand Oaks High team that was one of the best in Southern California — winning 61 of his 63 sets (many by 6-0 scores) during a season that saw the Lancers reach the quarterfinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division I playoffs.

For his efforts, McMorrow has been named The Star's Boys' Tennis Player of the Year.

"I enjoyed it, it was really a lot of fun," said McMorrow, describing the 2008 high school season in which teammates Denis Lin, Marcos Giron, Alex Johnson and Kenneth Wang also made big contributions. "There's a whole team atmosphere. It's a lot different than individual tournaments."

Because McMorrow, 17, plays junior events not only in Southern California but across the nation, he was unavailable for several of the Lancers' Marmonte League matches.

In the past four months alone he has played tournaments in Alabama (Spring Nationals), Rancho Mirage (Easter Bowl), Carson (International Spring Championships) and Hawaii (National Open).

It was at a big junior event two years ago when McMorrow believes he made a crucial breakthrough.

Playing in the in the 16s of the 2006 International Spring Championships, the unseeded McMorrow not only won the tournament, but crushed highly ranked junior Ryan Harrison 6-0, 6-0 in the final.

"I did not think I had any chance to win that tournament," McMorrow said.

Victories like that one and The Ojai have helped McMorrow climb steadily in the Southern California junior rankings, where he is No. 7 in Boys' 18s, and nationally (No. 4 in Boys' 18s). That kind of success has validated his decision to pursue tennis exclusively.

As a youngster growing up in Tenino, Wash., McMorrow also played basketball, soccer, baseball and flag football. Eventually, tennis began to win his heart, so much so he stopped playing the other sports. A move to Southern California, which has been a tennis hotbed for decades, also helped.

"My grandfather (William Huffman, a past president of The Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament) played," McMorrow said. "And (tennis) is a big sport in Southern California."

McMorrow already has plans to return to his Washington roots — after completing his senior year at Thousand Oaks. In January, he committed to play collegiately at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Until then, McMorrow has another year to battle many of Southern California's best players and raise his game to be able to compete in the challenging Pacific-10 Conference.

One man who is doing his best to see that happen is Paul Steele, director of tennis at Sunset Hills Country Club in Thousand Oaks and McMorrow's private coach the last two years.

What Steele has seen, specifically, is a player who has a high tennis IQ.

"Kyle always knows what kind of shots to hit and at what time," Steele said. "As an athlete, he's become stronger and faster. As a tennis player, he understands his mechanics a lot better."

The 6-foot-3, 175-pound McMorrow has taken those fundamentals and built a playing style he describes as "aggressive all-court."

During a match, that means looking for any chance to come to the net and end points decisively.

That seems like an appropriate way to play for a rising talent who is now fully committed to tennis.