Exon’s Victory Lets Woodbridge Stun Santa Barbara

Chase Exon, the No. 1 singles player at Woodbridge High, wasn’t totally aware of the significance of his victory in his final singles set Thursday, but the reaction of his teammates was a definite clue.

Exon’s teammates began to celebrate as he won to give Woodbridge the semifinal-round victory over top-seeded Santa Barbara in one of the biggest upsets in Southern Section tennis history.

In the last set of the day, Exon beat Ian Carerra, 6-4, to tie the match, 9-9, and give visiting Woodbridge the victory on games, 82-81.

Santa Barbara (20-2) had won eight consecutive section titles and 10 of the last 11. It was only the second match Santa Barbara had lost in the last eight seasons.

“This is a great one,” Woodbridge Coach Joan Willett said. “The team came together and everyone just played great.”

As expected, Woodbridge dominated in singles, winning six of nine sets. Exon, Adam Artunian and Reza Farokhpay each won two of three sets.

During Exon’s final set, the wind picked up and Willett said she feared it would give Santa Barbara the home-court advantage. But it didn’t.

“I was really lucky,” Exon said. “It started to really get windy but the guy I was playing didn’t push me that much.

“This is huge. The whole team really played well.”

Santa Barbara’s strength was its doubles teams but the three Woodbridge teams all won a set each and stayed close enough in the others.

Bandon Shainfeld and Greg Levy won 6-2, then lost, 4-6, 3-6; Brent DeSaxe and David Lingman won, 6-2, then lost, 3-6, 1-6; and Tyler Call and Tyler Smith’s scores were, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6.

“I had a feeling it as going to be 9-9,” Willett said. “I was just hoping our doubles teams could play them tough and they did.”

Still, Willett wasn’t sure her team had won until some of the players checked her addition.

“When I get excited my math skills go out the window,” she said.

Woodbridge (20-4) advances to Tuesday’s final against Palos Verdes Peninsula, which beat Corona del Mar, 10-8, Thursday.