SOUTHERN SECTION TENNIS PLAYOFFS : Mission Viejo Quiets Down as It Beats Canyon

The normally boisterous Mission Viejo boys’ tennis team was unusually quiet during the first two rounds of the Diablos’ Southern Section Division I first-round playoff match against Canyon.

“The kids are not match tough,” a worried Mission Viejo Coach Bill Smith said halfway through the match. “I don’t see the exuberance that they usually exhibit.”

But Mission Viejo raised the noise level and their level of play a couple decibels in the third round and went on to edge Canyon, 10-8, Tuesday afternoon.

Canyon (12-8), the third-seeded team from the Century League, trailed, 4-2, early but took four of six sets in the second round to tie the match at 6-6.

Smith sensed things were getting away from his team, which won the South Coast League, so he tried to fire them up with a pep talk.

“I told them, ‘This is where champions step up and do something special,’ ” Smith said.

After the Diablos (14-5) lost two of three singles matches, their doubles teams stepped up and did something pretty special. They won all three sets and clinched the match.

The No. 1 team of Ryan Aday and Josh Fair defeated Canyon’s No. 2 team of Warren Wang and Andy Choi, 6-4. The No. 2 team of Khalid Husseini and Christian Fernandez defeated Canyon’s No. 3 Robert Roh and Richard Wang, 6-0, and the No. 3 team of Jason Pascua and Derek Toross beat Canyon’s top team of Jerry Liao and Heath Kula, 6-2.

In other Division I matches:

Corona del Mar 17, Long Beach Millikin 1--Trenton Rhodes swept, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 1 singles for host Corona del Mar (20-1).

University 18, Long Beach Poly 0--Jason Meyers won, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, for host University (17-3). He improved to 43-5.

Woodbridge 10, Villa Park 8--Sam Peng and Jonathan Blum swept in doubles, 6-2, 7-6, 6-0, for visiting Woodbridge (17-4).

Marina 10, El Toro 8--Senior Noel Cosa defeated El Toro’s Johnny France, 6-4, to help Marina to the first-round victory. Cosa, who won his other two matches, 6-3, 6-2, was losing, 3-0, against France. Cosa then broke back to tie the match at 3-all and 4-all. France was serving at 4-5 when Cosa hit a volley winner to win the match for Marina (19-2), which will play University Thursday.

In Division II:

Esperanza 11, Riverside Poly 7--The doubles teams of Alex Conter and Alex Valle and Kyle Acree and Frank Hsu swept for visiting Esperanza (17-5).

Garden Grove 10, North Torrance 8--Steve Ho won two of three singles to lead Garden Grove (17-2). Ho won his third singles match, 6-0, to clinch the match for the Argonauts. North Torrance finished the season at 14-5.

Sunny Hills 18, Crespi 0--Kevin Kim didn’t lose a game in singles and Hiren Bhavsar and Joey Springer won 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 in doubles for second-seeded Sunny Hills (19-0) at Sunny Hills Racquet Club.

Laguna Beach 16, Downey Warren 2--Julian Zajfen swept, 6-0, 6-0, 6-2, in the top singles spot for Laguna Beach (17-5). Host Warren finished its season 16-1.

Trabuco Hills 17, Cerritos Gahr 1--Nolan Cooper won, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, for host Trabuco Hills (19-2). Gahr finished 9-8.

In Division III:

Brea-Olinda 12, Walnut 6--Matt Coulson and Javier Lavagnino won at No. 3 doubles, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, for host Brea-Olinda (18-3).