Woodbridge Escapes the Eagles’ Upset Bid
Top-ranked Woodbridge appeared ripe for an upset Thursday in Irvine.
The Warriors were without half of their best doubles team. Brandon Shainfeld is serving a two-week suspension for disciplinary reasons. They were coming off an emotional victory over arch-rival Corona del Mar and were facing third-ranked and undefeated Santa Margarita.
For 90 minutes, the air at the Woodbridge Tennis Center definitely had a scent of upset in it. Santa Margarita was four set points away from tying the match after one round. But the set points and Santa Margarita’s upset hopes disappeared as Woodbridge’s Adam Artunian watched his opponent, Derek Fears, make one unforced error after another.
Artunian won his set in a 9-7 tiebreaker and Woodbridge went about its merry way to a 15-3 victory. The Warriors improved to 13-0 and 3-0 in the Sea View League. Santa Margarita fell to 10-1 and 2-1.
“We’re missing some guys,” Woodbridge doubles player Reza Farokhpay said. “They gave us a run, but we showed a lot of character. The Corona del Mar match took a lot out of us. It was kind of hard to get up for Santa Margarita. They’re not really a natural rival of ours.”
Farokhpay normally plays No. 2 doubles with Tyler Call but Thursday he played for the first time with Greg Levy, usually Shainfeld’s partner. Farokhpay and Levy lost their first set, 6-4, to Santa Margarita’s Dan Deen and Jason Walsh. Woodbridge’s No. 3 doubles team Jim Hunter and Justin Davenport also lost their first set.
But the turning point was Artunian’s match. He led Fears four games to one but began playing conservatively and Fears stormed back to take a 6-5 lead. Artunian took a 2-0 lead in the tiebreaker before Fears ran off six points. Artunian, who was still dragging from playing several long matches last weekend in a junior tournament, fought his way back and pulled out the set.
Artunian went on to win his last two matches over Cody Shedd and Andrew Tsu. Woodbridge’s No. 1 singles player David Lingman also swept his three sets and Amir Bagerpour won two of three at No. 3 singles. Call and Rob Le swept at No. 2 doubles and Hunter and Davenport won two.
After trouncing their two toughest league opponents in a three-day span, the next question is, can the Warriors be beaten?
“I think the only team that has a chance of beating us is [Palos Verdes] Peninsula,” Levy said.
Even the Warriors’ typically reserved coach, Joan Willett, didn’t discount her team’s chances of going undefeated.
“There’s a good possibility,” she said. “It’s not unmentionable. I have a lot of faith in these guys.”
In another Sea View League match:
Irvine 10, Newport Harbor 8--Jason Williams won two of three singles sets for visiting Irvine (8-5, 1-2).