Van Nuys’ Park Takes a Toll on Bell : City Section tennis: Junior leads Wolves to 3-A title; Taft falls to University in 4-A final.

STUDIO CITY —  Van Nuys High No. 1 singles player Steve Park began playing tennis at age 5 at the urging of his parents, who now are steering him toward medical school. Because of his studies, Park struggled at the outset of the season.

But Park performed surgery of sorts at the Racquet Centre on Tuesday as Van Nuys beat Bell, 18-11 1/2, for the City Section 3-A Division championship. Taft was routed by University, 23-6 1/2, in the 4-A final.

Park, 16, defeated Jose Cardenas, Bell’s top singles player, 6-2. He routed No. 2 player Anton Chow, 6-2, then blanked both Alfonso Chacon and Juan Ubario, 6-0, to help the Wolves (14-1) sew up the title against the previously undefeated Eagles (16-1).

“I didn’t practice last semester because 11th grade is an important year for academics,” said Park, who had to overcome some adversity. He played at Granada Hills in 1993, but his season was cut short by a broken wrist. At the outset of 1994, Park lost some matches to inferior opponents and temporarily yielded his No. 1 spot to senior Peter Nam.

But Park hit his stride late in the season and he helped turn the Wolves’ fortunes against Bell. With two-thirds of the match completed, Bell led, 11 1/2-10, having won seven of the nine doubles sets.

Van Nuys needed to win five of eight remaining singles sets to overtake Bell. The Wolves won all eight and wound up taking 15 of the 16 singles sets. Park was pleased with the victory, but he already has his sights on next season.

“It’s 3-A, but it’s still all right,” he said. “Next year we’re moving up to 4-A and we want to be the first team in section history to win the 3-A and the 4-A championships in back-to-back seasons.”

In the 4-A final, Taft High’s Dylan Mann proved to be the man among singles players. But for the second year in a row, Mann’s teammates were outmanned. Taft (14-1) had reached the 1993 final before losing to Northwest Valley Conference rival Chatsworth, 19 1/2-10. That was close compared to Tuesday’s 16 1/2-point loss.

“Last year, we beat Chatsworth twice during the season, then our singles ladder didn’t produce when we got to the final,” Taft Coach Marvin Jones said. “This year we’re just playing the No. 1 team, and they’re solid all the way down.”

Mann gave Taft its only highlight against University (16-0) when he swept four sets and rallied from 4-2 and 5-4 deficits to beat Jay Jackson, 7-5, in a match-opening battle at No. 1 singles.

Four of Taft’s 6 1/2 points came from Mann, a sophomore who was ranked No. 6 in Southern California in the boys’ 16-and-under division last year. Mann is undefeated, posting a 12-0 record in the regular season and winning all 12 of his sets in the tournament.