Stanford’s O’Brien, Cocotos Continue the Cardinal Rule : Tennis: They become third straight team from their school to win Pacific Coast Doubles by beating Lucena-Phanco.

Whether it was chair umpire George Porter’s line calls, Alex O’Brien’s rifle serves or Chris Cocotos’ service returns at their feet, it was always something for California’s Matt Lucena and Tom Phanco.

They might have just finished dusting off top-seeded Jonathon Leach and Brian MacPhie of USC in straight sets, but there was no way they were beating Stanford’s O’Brien and Cocotos. They didn’t really even come close--losing 6-2, 6-4, 6-4, in the finals of the Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles tournament Sunday afternoon at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.

O’Brien and Cocotos’ victory gave Stanford its third consecutive Pacific Coast Doubles title. Jared Palmer and Jonathon Stark won the event in 1990 and 1991. O’Brien and Cocotos, the No. 2 seeds, defeated San Diego State’s Jeff Belloli and Chris Numbers in the semifinal, 7-6, 6-2.

Lucena, a senior from Chico, has won two NCAA doubles titles, but he is winless in four attempts at La Jolla.

“That’s OK, I’d rather win the NCAAs,” Lucena said.

But Lucena’s fiery demeanor during the match showed that he wouldn’t have minded winning this tournament, either. He didn’t agree with a couple of Porter’s rulings, and both times he let Porter know it.

Lucena first questioned Porter on a ball O’Brien half-volleyed in the first set. Lucena argued that O’Brien volleyed the ball while it was inside the baseline, but Porter called it out.

But Lucena was even more vehement in his criticism of Porter in the ninth game of the second set. Lucena thought an O’Brien lob went beyond the baseline, but Porter called the ball good. Lucena couldn’t believe the call and even tried to get the crowd involved as a mediator.

Even though some people yelled, “Out, out,” Porter refused to change his call. The point put O’Brien and Cocotos up 15-0. They went on to break Lucena’s serve and go ahead, 5-4.

O’Brien held serve in the 10th game to finish out the set.

“They got some breaks and we didn’t return very well,” Lucena said. “They played well when they had to.”

Phanco agreed: “Everything seemed to go against us.”

But even when Phanco and Lucena had opportunities to get back into the match, they couldn’t take advantage of them. They had six break points, but failed to cash in on any of them.

“They came up with some big shots,” said Phanco, a redshirt junior who graduated from Bishop’s School. “They kept us off balance. I never knew what to expect. We just never got a rhythm.”

Meanwhile, O’Brien said he and Cocotos found their rhythm early.

“We just seemed to get in a groove, especially on the returns,” O’Brien said. “When Chris gets on a roll, he’s pretty hard to stop.”

Phanco and Lucena, who had only played eight matches together before the weekend, appeared to be on a roll coming into the finals after beating Leach and MacPhie, 6-3, 6-3, in the morning semifinals. But Phanco said that victory may have hurt more than it helped.

“We put all our focus on that match,” he said. “We didn’t have much left--I know I didn’t. It’s tough to play two great matches in a row like that.”

But O’Brien had little sympathy for Lucena.

“Matt might not have been at his best, but he’s crunched me a few times over the years with other partners,” O’Brien said. “It was good to get him back.”