EMPIRE LEAGUE TENNIS : Loara’s Lindee Wins Singles Championship--as Expected

There were few surprises Wednesday in the Empire League tennis finals at the Yorba Linda Country Club.

Top-seeded Cameron Lindee of Loara beat No. 2 Mike Burgess of Esperanza in singles, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, and the doubles finalists were two teams from Los Alamitos.

Lindee, a muscular serve-and-volley player, and Burgess, a lanky baseliner, shared the league MVP award. The split their two matches and each had a 29-1 record.

Burgess broke serve to take a 4-1 lead in the first set, then held at 5-2 to take the set. He was placing his shots just out of reach, and Lindee was playing tight, making mistakes, loudly berating himself after every blunder.

This emotion worked in Lindee’s favor. Down, 40-15, in the fourth game of the second set, Lindee called for a linesman, stopping play for several minutes. Finally, Lindee returned the ball into the net, but the momentum had swung his way, and he won four consecutive games to take the set, 6-3.

The two were tied until the seventh game of the third set, when Lindee broke Burgess to take a 4-3 lead, then served three aces and a service winner to make it 5-3. But Burgess fought back from 15-40, match point, and aced the final point. Lindee, who had served at least 20 aces, double faulted twice to give Burgess the game and tie the score, 5-5. But Burgess could not hold on, and Lindee finished with an ace.

Lindee then leaped over the net, grabbed the ball and shook his fist in Burgess’ face. The two did not shake hands.

“They’ve been going at each other for years,” Esperanza Coach Jean Agee said.

In doubles, Mike Chen and Ben Mackewicz of Los Alamitos defeated teammates Darrin Hall and Franco Trani in three sets to win the title.