Boys’ tennis: University edges Santa Barbara on games to win DI title

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In a match that was everything a championship final should be, Irvine University defended its Southern Section-Toyota Division I team title by the narrowest of margins Wednesday, beating Santa Barbara on games, 81-77, at the Claremont Club.

John Huang was down a break in the final set against Santa Barbara’s top player, Daniel Nguyen, before rallying for a 6-3 victory that evened the match at 9-9. Only after total games were counted several times was top-seeded University declared the winner.

‘I don’t know how we pulled this out,’ Coach John Kessler admitted. ‘I thought Santa Barbara outplayed us. I thought we gave away too many games, but John [Huang] did a great job pulling out that set. I think our guys learned how hard it is to defend the title.’

Coach Steve Geremia was proud of the way his second-seeded Dons played in their biggest match of the season: ‘We had a lot of guys step up and play great, we just didn’t win the tennis match. I wish we could have a rematch.’

-- Steve Galluzzo