Pierce Fall Perplexes Xanthos : Tennis: Veteran coach watched team self-destruct in regional semifinals.

Injuries, apathy, frustration and burnout. Like the captain of a ship that had sailed into uncharted waters, Coach Paul Xanthos said he felt helpless as he watched his top-ranked Pierce College men’s tennis team sink in the semifinals of the Southern California regional tournament.

Three of the team’s top four singles players withdrew in the middle of their matches, and two doubles teams were upset as Pierce (18-1), which shares the No. 1 ranking in the state, lost to Cerritos, 5-4, Monday at Long Beach City College. Pierce defeated Cerritos five weeks earlier, 7-2.

Xanthos said he was caught flat-footed.

“I’ve never experienced what I did (Monday),” said Xanthos, 72, who is in his 45th season of coaching and his 29th season at Pierce. “I didn’t know what to do.”

The night before the match, Xanthos had to convince his No. 2 singles player, John Rom, not to quit the team. Xanthos said Rom--ranked sixth by both the state junior college poll and the Southern California Tennis Assn. in the 18-and-under division--decided to give up the sport when he lost in the third round of a U.S. Tennis Assn.-designated juniors tournament in Anaheim over the weekend.

During Monday’s match against Cerritos, No. 1 singles player Al Martinez, ranked fourth in the state in singles, retired because of a tender groin muscle after losing the first set to Tae Kim, 7-5. Philip Leonhardt, playing No. 4 singles, trailed, 3-0, in the first set against Ed Torres when he retired because of an aggravated injury to a rib muscle.

Then Rom again threatened to quit, abruptly retiring in the first set against Song Min while trailing, 4-1. Xanthos had another talk with Rom and convinced him to play doubles with Martinez.

Pierce and Cerritos were tied, 3-3, after the singles round, at which point Xanthos called a team meeting and asked his players, “Do you want to quit?” The players said no, according to Xanthos. But they lost two of three doubles matches.

Xanthos said one player looked like he was “going through the motions” while another told the coach he was “burned out.”

Leonhardt and Vanja Nadali fell to Kim and Min, 6-3, 6-0. Martinez and Rom were defeated by Torres and Nikko Martelli, 6-2, 6-3.

The loss deprived Pierce of a showdown against Desert, with whom Pierce is tied at the top of the California rankings. Desert, a 5-1 winner over Saddleback, will face Cerritos in the Southern California final today at Southwestern College in Chula Vista.

Pierce is not finished, however. Five singles players and three doubles teams have qualified for the regional individual tournament, which starts Thursday at Southwestern. Rom said Tuesday he’s staying with the Brahmas and rededicating himself to tennis.

“I was mentally frustrated,” he said. “I could have won that match and we’d be in the finals now.”