Tustin's boys doubles team among contenders in Ojai tennis tournament

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

The buzz surrounding Tustin’s boys tennis team raised a few decibels with the seeding for the Ojai tournament this week.

The Tillers, who are 17-1 and ranked 52nd in the CIF Southern Section, have the No. 2-seeded doubles team and a singles player seeded in the Top 16.

The 124th edition of the Ojai runs Thursday through Saturday.

Tustin’s doubles team of sophomore DJ Buchfeller and senior Everett Somerville is seeded second to Peninsula’s duo of Colin Bringas and Eddie Feuer.

The left-handed Buchfeller is a transfer from Marina who observed the sit-out period. Somerville formerly played at Orange Lutheran.

Tustin junior Nikhil Bommaiah is among several Orange County boys seeded in the Top 16 in singles.

“Tustin is legit,” University coach John Kessler said. “They’re a good team.”

The Tillers completed play in the Empire League on Tuesday with a 12-0 record and claimed their second consecutive league title. They could move up in the CIF-SS playoff divisions after losing last season in the first round in Division 4.

Tustin’s league title last season was the first in school history.

“We’ve improved,” fifth-year Tustin coach Rob Coe said.

Orange County features three of the top four seeds in singles.

They are No. 1 Matteo Huarte of Mater Dei, No. 2 Brady Tallakson of Woodbridge and No. 4 JiHyuk Im of University.

Huarte, a junior committed to USC, lost in the Ojai finals last season to University’s Rishvanth Krishna 6-4, 6-4.

Krishna, a junior who is not playing high school tennis this season, extended Orange County’s streak of singles champions at Ojai to six.

The county’s run began in 2018 with Stefan Dostanic of Woodbridge. The Ojai tournament wasn’t played in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

Huarte is the grandson of Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte of Notre Dame, who played at Mater Dei.

Ranked as the No. 3 junior in California by Tennis Recruiting Network, Huarte is undefeated this season.

Tallakson is a senior committed to Boise State, where his brother Avery plays. The brothers won the doubles title at Ojai in 2023.

Tallakson enters his final Ojai tournament with a 38-1 record.

Im is a junior who is receiving interest from Ivy League schools such as Brown and Yale. He carries a 4.4 grade-point average for University, the defending team champion in Ojai.

Marina’s doubles team of Alejandro Hill and David Tran is seeded fourth. Last year, Tran teamed with Trevor Nguyen to place second to Beckman’s Caden Lee and Edwin Yuan.

Orange County has won the doubles title at Ojai the past four tournaments.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 3:03 PM.