SOUTHERN SECTION TENNIS PLAYOFFS : Mission Viejo Quiets Down as It Beats Canyon

The normally boisterous Mission Viejo boys’ tennis team was unusually quiet during the first two rounds of the Diablos’ Southern Section Division I first-round playoff match against Canyon.

“The kids are not match tough,� a worried Mission Viejo Coach Bill Smith said halfway through the match. “I don’t see the exuberance that they usually exhibit.�

But Mission Viejo raised the noise level and their level of play a couple decibels in the third round and went on to edge Canyon, 10-8, Tuesday afternoon.

Canyon (12-8), the third-seeded team from the Century League, trailed, 4-2, early but took four of six sets in the second round to tie the match at 6-6.

Smith sensed things were getting away from his team, which won the South Coast League, so he tried to fire them up with a pep talk.

“I told them, ‘This is where champions step up and do something special,’ � Smith said.

After the Diablos (14-5) lost two of three singles matches, their doubles teams stepped up and did something pretty special. They won all three sets and clinched the match.

The No. 1 team of Ryan Aday and Josh Fair defeated Canyon’s No. 2 team of Warren Wang and Andy Choi, 6-4. The No. 2 team of Khalid Husseini and Christian Fernandez defeated Canyon’s No. 3 Robert Roh and Richard Wang, 6-0, and the No. 3 team of Jason Pascua and Derek Toross beat Canyon’s top team of Jerry Liao and Heath Kula, 6-2.

In other Division I matches:

Corona del Mar 17, Long Beach Millikin 1--Trenton Rhodes swept, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 1 singles for host Corona del Mar (20-1).

University 18, Long Beach Poly 0--Jason Meyers won, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, for host University (17-3). He improved to 43-5.

Woodbridge 10, Villa Park 8--Sam Peng and Jonathan Blum swept in doubles, 6-2, 7-6, 6-0, for visiting Woodbridge (17-4).

Marina 10, El Toro 8--Senior Noel Cosa defeated El Toro’s Johnny France, 6-4, to help Marina to the first-round victory. Cosa, who won his other two matches, 6-3, 6-2, was losing, 3-0, against France. Cosa then broke back to tie the match at 3-all and 4-all. France was serving at 4-5 when Cosa hit a volley winner to win the match for Marina (19-2), which will play University Thursday.

In Division II:

Esperanza 11, Riverside Poly 7--The doubles teams of Alex Conter and Alex Valle and Kyle Acree and Frank Hsu swept for visiting Esperanza (17-5).

Garden Grove 10, North Torrance 8--Steve Ho won two of three singles to lead Garden Grove (17-2). Ho won his third singles match, 6-0, to clinch the match for the Argonauts. North Torrance finished the season at 14-5.

Sunny Hills 18, Crespi 0--Kevin Kim didn’t lose a game in singles and Hiren Bhavsar and Joey Springer won 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 in doubles for second-seeded Sunny Hills (19-0) at Sunny Hills Racquet Club.

Laguna Beach 16, Downey Warren 2--Julian Zajfen swept, 6-0, 6-0, 6-2, in the top singles spot for Laguna Beach (17-5). Host Warren finished its season 16-1.

Trabuco Hills 17, Cerritos Gahr 1--Nolan Cooper won, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, for host Trabuco Hills (19-2). Gahr finished 9-8.

In Division III:

Brea-Olinda 12, Walnut 6--Matt Coulson and Javier Lavagnino won at No. 3 doubles, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, for host Brea-Olinda (18-3).