PREP TENNIS / SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : Laguna Beach Pays Back Garden Grove

An easy regular-season victory over Laguna Beach might have been the worst thing that could have happened to unheralded Garden Grove.

And it’s the best thing that could have happened to traditional tennis power Laguna Beach.

“The kids learned a lesson the first time against these guys,” Laguna Beach Coach Bob Walton said. “It’s not the way kids look, it’s how they play.”

So it was a determined Laguna Beach team that beat a complacent and tentative Garden Grove team Tuesday, 12-6, in the first round of the Southern Section Division II playoffs. Garden Grove won the regular-season match, 15-6.

“That was a different Laguna Beach team than the one I’m seeing [Tuesday],” Garden Grove Coach Kevin Starnes said after his team fell behind 5-1 after one round. “They came to play.”

Not that Garden Grove didn’t come to play, but it was quickly evident the Argonauts weren’t ready to play at the Artists’ level. Tuan Nguyen’s 6-0 victory at No. 2 singles over John Keith was Garden Grove’s only first-round point.

“I was hoping to go up 4-2 in the first round, but that didn’t work out,” Starnes said.

Garden Grove (16-5) split the next six sets and trailed, 8-4, after the second round.

Laguna Beach’s Elliott West, who missed the teams’ first meeting, proved the most--winning, 6-2, 6-0, 6-3.

At No. 1 doubles, Steve Seybold and Aaron Talarico won, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0.

Laguna Beach (15-7), a wild-card team that finished third in the Pacific Coast League, will play Villa Park in Thursday’s second round.