TENNIS / NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : Leach Fails to Win a Game During Second-Round Singles

Jon Leach, a former Laguna Beach High standout now a USC sophomore, made a quick exit from the second round of the NCAA men’s tennis tournament, losing, 6-0, 6-0, to Mike Sell of Georgia in a 51-minute match Thursday at Athens, Ga.

“Jon’s tired and he was kind of frozen out there today,” said Dick Leach, Jon’s father and the USC coach. “It was an early morning match and he really isn’t a morning person.”

Leach had a game point only once in the match and scored only five points in the second set in what was only the sixth 6-0, 6-0 singles match since the NCAA tournament came to Athens, Ga., in 1977.

“I’m stunned,” said Sell, who like Leach plays at No. 3 singles in team competition. “I really didn’t expect this. Jon is a great player and I just got on top of him early. I moved the ball around and broke his serve.

“I got most of the breaks today, he didn’t get many. Once I got the first service break of the second set, I sort of knew the match was over. (Leach) had some unforced errors and wasn’t on top of his game.”

Leach then teamed with Brian MacPhie for a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Frank Schaffner and Karl Steffen of Alabama Birmingham in a first-round doubles match. Leach and MacPhie are seeded first.

“We got off to a really good start and we just took advantage at that point,” Leach said. I’ve been really sore following the team championships. I guess I’m a little injured, just like everyone else who played earlier this week.”

Another Trojan, freshman Wayne Black, was two games away from eliminating second-seeded Jose Luis Noriega of San Diego, but lost, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.

Black was serving with a 4-3 lead, but Noriega took that game and the next two for the victory.

USC and Pepperdine were among four schools putting two players into the third round. MacPhie, who is seeded fourth, defeated Joe McDonough of San Diego State, 6-2, 6-2.

Iwlani McCalla and Mamie Ceniza of UCLA completed their collegiate careers as champions, winning the NCAA doubles title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over top-seeded Susan Gilchrist and Vickie Paynter of Texas in the NCAA women’s tennis tournament at Stanford.

“We played well as a team,” McCalla said. “We were intense and we communicated with each other. I didn’t return serves well, but I think my serving made up for it. Mamie was all over all the net.”

Gilchrist and Paynter finished the season, 35-2, with both losses coming to Ceniza and McCalla.

“We didn’t play our game today,” Gilchrist said. “It seemed they had the momentum right from the beginning. I didn’t think it was possible, but we played worse (in this match than the first meeting).”

McCalla and Ceniza, both seniors, are the third Bruin duo to take the doubles title, joining Stella Sampras and Allyson Cooper (1988) and Heather Ludloff and Lynn Lewis (1982).

“I thought we were able to put the ball away on them a little more,” Ceniza said. “They can get a lot of balls back, but we tend to hit them very hard. Sometimes, I don’t think they expected that we’d get the ball back on them.”

In the singles final, Lisa Raymond of Florida became the second freshman to win the title in its 11-year history, defeating top-seeded Shannan McCarthy of Georgia, 6-3, 6-3.

“I had a hard time getting into the match,” said McCarthy, who lost the first eight points. “I guess I probably looked more nervous than I really was. I would have like to have used that as an excuse, but that’s not why I lost. I mis-hit a lot of balls and I didn’t get many of my first serves in.”

McCarthy rebounded to tie the first set at three, before the second-seeded Raymond took the next three games.

Raymond, who was seeded second, took a 5-1 lead in the second set, dropped the next two games, then held for the match.