Orange County College Roundup : UCI Men Lose a Tough Tennis Match to Long Beach

In one breath, Larry Easley spoke about how satisfying it was to beat UC Irvine for the third straight time in men’s tennis.

But in the next breath, Easley, the Cal State Long Beach coach, said: “I’m really sorry they lost.

“I really like Greg Patton (Irvine coach) and his team. And I think he is one of the best coaches in the country.”

Patton--whose Anteaters lost, 6-3, to the 49ers Wednesday at Irvine--believes Easley wasn’t just trying to soften the blow with kind words.

“I really think he means it,” Patton said. “He wants us to make the NCAA tournament, too.”

Not so much as Patton. The loss to second-ranked Long Beach (20-2) was probably the toughest of the season for Irvine. Five of the six singles matches went three sets, and the 49ers won four of the five.

“This really shows the parity in college tennis,” Easley said. “We could have easily lost, 6-0.”

Long Beach clinched the match when its No. 2 doubles team of Richard Bergh and Patrick Hultgren defeated Julian Barham and Steve Oliver, 6-3, 6-4.

The No. 17-ranked Anteaters are left with two opportunities to enhance their chances of reaching the 16-team NCAA tournament in May at Athens, Ga. Irvine plays at Long Beach April 21 and meets eighth-ranked Pepperdine seven days later.

Those are Irvine’s final chances to break into the elite of college tennis. Otherwise, the Anteaters (19-9) will be relegated to cheering for sophomore Mark Kaplan, who already has reached the top echelon.

Kaplan, ranked No. 14 in the country, reaffirmed and surpassed his status Wednesday. He had little problem defeating seventh-ranked Bergh, 6-4, 6-4. Then Kaplan and Trevor Kronemann defeated Pat Crow and Kevin Gillette, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, at No. 1 doubles. Crow and Gillette previously had lost just one match.

Earlier this week, Kaplan told Patton he felt he could win the NCAA singles title. It was the first time Kaplan had made that statement to someone other than his father.

“And I believe it,” said Kaplan. “It’s always been one of my long-term goals. Now I think I can do it because I’ve reached all my short-term goals.”

In a Calfornia Collegiate Athletic Assn. tennis match:

Chapman 7, Cal State Northridge 2--No. 1 singles player Oliver Amerlinck defeated Nicolas Renard, 6-2, 6-3, to lead the Panthers at Chapman. Miles Walker, Paul Charlesworth, David Seline and Barry Hancock also won in singles, and Amerlinck/Walker and Seline/Darren Capik won in doubles for Chapman. The Panthers, ranked second in Division II, are 6-0 and 14-7. The Matadors are 3-4 and 9-7.

In a CCAA softball doubleheader:

UC Riverside 4-2, Chapman 1-1--The Panthers lost both games at Riverside. The Panthers (2-10, 10-21-1) led the second game, 1-0, until the bottom of the seventh, when three Riverside hits and an error by Chapman’s Karen Zupan gave Riverside (3-8, 13-17) two runs and the come-from-behind victory. Zupan was 2 for 3 in the first game.