He Wasn’t on the Ball for This Home Match

Corona del Mar’s David Bain didn’t play as expected in the Sea Kings’ nonleague tennis match against San Clemente Monday.

Bain, a senior who had a 23-1 record through Monday, missed the match at the Corona del Mar because he thought it was at San Clemente. He went to the parking lot to catch the team bus and saw neither the bus nor his teammates, because the tennis courts are on the opposite side of the school.

Figuring he had missed his ride, he took off for San Clemente on his own. Once he arrived, Bain realized his mistake and phoned Sea King Coach Gary Salazar.

“We’ve traveled a lot this season, and we’ve been away for most of our big matches,” Salazar said. “I think he just didn’t check his schedule.”

Luckily, fourth-ranked Corona del Mar did just fine against San Clemente without Bain, defeating the fifth-ranked Tritons, 14-4.

“We lucked out because San Clemente is good,” said Salazar.

Because the match was at home, Ali Jahangiri was able to fill in for Bain. Although Jahangiri lost his three matches, Salazar said he did a good job considering he had had a cast to protect a strained wrist removed four days before.

“(I didn’t know where Bain was) so I waited until a couple minutes before the match started before I replaced him,” Salazar said. “He is usually reliable, so I figured something happened.”