TENNIS ROUNDUP : Woodbridge Ends Corona del Mar’s Sea View Dominance

Though her team easily defeated Corona del Mar last month, Woodbridge Coach Joan Willett wasn’t taking any chances with Thursday’s rematch--especially since a victory would give the school its first Sea View League tennis title.

So Willett called on Charles Barkley to give her team some inspiration. She used Sir Charles’ words from a recent television commercial.

“She called on our Warrior pride,” Woodbridge singles player Jonny Biorkman said. “(Barkley) said nobody’s going to give you something, you have to go out and win it yourself. You can’t let it come to you.”

With star freshman Chase Exon out because of an eye injury and Biorkman off his game, the Sea View League title didn’t come easily to Woodbridge, but it came. The Warriors defeated the Sea Kings, 12-6, at Northlake Racquet Club in Irvine, and finished the league season undefeated at 10-0.

The second-ranked Warriors finished the regular season 19-1 and will enter the Southern Section Division I playoffs as the fourth-seeded team. And with top-ranked Sunny Hills losing to Diamond Bar this week, the Warriors might finish the regular season as the county’s top-ranked team.

But none of that mattered much to Woodbridge on Thursday. What mattered was the Sea View League title.

“We didn’t play our best,” said Biorkman, who lost his first league set, 6-4, to John Cappello. “But we wanted to win really badly. We didn’t want to be co-champions. Being the first Sea View League title in school history, we wanted to win it for Coach Willett.”

Eighth-ranked Corona del Mar (13-5, 8-2) has dominated the Sea View during the 1990s and had never lost to Woodbridge until this season. Woodbridge won seven of nine singles sets and five of nine doubles sets. The key player might have been freshman Adam Artunian, Exon’s replacement at No. 3 singles. Artunian, who played doubles until Exon was hit by a ball in practice two weeks ago, won all three sets, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0.

In the Empire League:

Loara 13, El Dorado 5--Randy Kato and Tan Nguyen swept in No. 1 doubles, 7-6, 6-0, 6-2, and Mike Kim and Mike Lee swept No. 2 doubles, 7-6, 6-1, 7-5, for No. 9 Loara (19-1, 10-0), which captured its first league title since 1970.

Cypress 11, Katella 7--Albert Pascual took No. 2 singles, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, for Cypress (11-4, 6-4).

In the Golden West League finals:

Ryan Moore wins--Servite’s Ryan Moore defeated Chris Ho of Tustin, 6-0, 6-1, to win the singles title. Moore was 40-0 during the year and lost only one game in the league tournament.

Paul Choi and Ryan Hagey, of Ocean View, defeated Servite’s Mike Luciano and Alex Piana, 6-2, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, for the doubles title.

In the Pacific Coast League:

University 13, Aliso Niguel 5--Chris Seid won 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 and Doug McCan won 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 in singles to lead seventh-ranked University (13-3, 10-0).