SOUTHERN SECTION TENNIS PLAYOFFS : Laguna Beach Tops South Torrance

Bobby Nichols won the deciding set and Laguna Beach defeated South Torrance, 10-8, in a Division 3-A first-round match at Torrance.

Nichols won the deciding match, 6-3, and swept his other singles sets, 6-2, 6-1, for the visiting Artists (16-5).

Julian Zajfen, who won, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3, has won 43 consecutive sets this season for Laguna Beach.

In other 3-A matches:

Sunny Hills 15, Riverside Poly 3--Davy Robbins won, 6-2, 6-1, 6-0, in singles and Jon Messrah and Jason Nevadomsky won, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, in doubles for No. 2-seeded Sunny Hills (17-0).

La Quinta 14, Upland 4--Bach Nguyen won, 6-0, 6-2, 6-0, in singles and Hien Ngo and Dung Doan (6-4, 6-1, 6-0) and Peter Lam and Hung Du (6-2, 6-1, 6-2) each won in doubles for third-seeded La Quinta (20-1) at Upland Tennis Center.

Esperanza 9, Corona 9 (Esperanza wins on games, 87-70)--Mike Hammer won two of his three singles sets, 6-3, 6-0, losing only to Corona’s No. 1 singles player, Ronnie Grant, 6-7, as visiting Esperanza (21-0) advanced.

In 4-A tennis:

Dana Hills 17, Huntington Beach 1--Ben Stevens swept, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, and Kurt Bruggeman swept, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, for visiting Dana Hills (20-0).

Mission Viejo 15, Long Beach Poly 3--Mission Viejo swept all the doubles to give Long Beach Poly (20-2) its second loss of the season. Dave Chihorek and Jason Pascua swept, 6-0, 6-1, 6-1, in No. 2 doubles for host Mission Viejo (13-9).

University 14, Westlake 4--John Bowerbank swept, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1, and Jason Meyers swept, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1, for visiting University (20-1).

Woodbridge 16, Diamond Bar 2--In singles, Victor Ro swept, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, and Darrin Isaacman swept, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, and in doubles, Brian Haden and Kevin Hill swept, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, and Bud Duong and Bobby Lee swept, 7-6, 6-4, 6-1, for host Woodbridge (16-5).

Corona del Mar 14, Agoura 4--Jamie Katzman swept, 7-5, 6-2, 6-0, in singles and Trenton Rhodes and Brian Walden swept in doubles, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, for visiting Corona del Mar (14-5).