Dana Hills Rallies to Defeat Mission Viejo, Stay Unbeaten

For about 90 minutes, Mission Viejo looked as if it was on its way to handing second-ranked Dana Hills its first loss. But the upset began to unravel when the Diablos’ top singles player, Eric Bachelor, fell to Dana Hills’ Brian Kent.

It went downhill from there as Dana Hills held off seventh-ranked Mission Viejo, 11-7, Thursday, to take sole possession of first place in the South Coast League.

“We had a plan and it didn’t work out,” Mission Viejo Coach Bill Smith said. “I’m sure they had a plan that did work.”

Smith’s plan worked to perfection in the first round as the Diablos took a 4-2 lead, keyed by Bachelor’s 7-5 victory over Dana Hills’ No. 2 player, Javier Carrillo, who had not dropped a set all year.

“We wanted to win that match badly,” Smith said. “We thought it would create some real concern in all of their players’ minds. We thought they might play tight because of that, but they didn’t.”

Instead, Dana Hills (9-0, 4-0) seemed to play more determined tennis and Mission Viejo (10-2, 3-1) appeared to tire. Bachelor’s set with Carillo lasted nearly 90 minutes. He had 10 minutes rest before facing the undefeated Kent, the Dolphins’ No. 1 player.

Bachelor broke Kent to open the match, but Kent took over after that, winning, 6-2. Kent ended the match with a backhand return crosscourt while Bachelor stood flat-footed on the baseline.

“I think Eric lost a little steam,” Smith said. “He didn’t look as sharp.”

Kent thanked Carillo for wearing Bachelor down.

“I’m sure that long set with Carillo didn’t hurt me,” said Kent, who spent the summer and winter vacation training at tennis camps in Florida. “If he was fresh, it might have been a little different match. I still thought I played well.”

Smith agreed.

“He’s physically stronger this year,” Smith said of Kent, a junior. “He’s clearly a better player this year.”

Kent, Carillo and Matt Leventhal won six points for Dana Hills. But the Dolphins’ doubles teams also had a big day, winning five points. Last week against 10th-ranked Capistrano Valley, Dana Hills won three doubles points.

“We hadn’t been having good wins against good teams, but the kids stepped up today,” Dana Hills Coach John Stephens said.

In another South Coast League match:

No. 10 Capistrano Valley 13, San Clemente 5--Capistrano Valley’s Michael Nguyen swept, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, to improve to 36-3. He has swept in singles, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, in three of four league matches. Capistrano Valley is 12-2, 3-1.

In the Century League:

Foothill 11, Villa Park 7--Ryan Katzman won two of three matches, 6-1, 6-1, 4-6, for Foothill (7-5, 4-0). Villa Park is 2-2 in league.

In the Golden West League:

No. 8 Servite 15, Westminster 3--Junior varsity players Chris Chu and Kabir Randhava swept in doubles, 7-6, 6-0, 6-0, to lead Servite (12-2, 6-0).

In the Pacific Coast League:

No. 6 Aliso Niguel 11, Laguna Beach 7--Jason Mednick won two of three sets for Aliso Niguel, 2-6, 6-1, 6-0. Mednick lost to Aaron Talarico of Laguna Beach (7-8, 4-3) who won his other two sets, 6-4, 6-0. Tyler Strateman and Felip Ortiz swept in doubles for Laguna Beach, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

Aliso Niguel is 14-0, 7-0 in league.

In the Sea View League:

No. 1 Corona del Mar 17, Newport Harbor 1--Cameron Taylor swept in singles, 6-1, 6-1, 6-0, to improve to 12-0 in league. Chris Jensen won, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, for visiting Corona del Mar (12-0, 5-0). Newport Harbor (0-5 in league) won five games in doubles and eight in singles.

No. 3 Woodbridge 15, Irvine 3--Woodbridge swept in singles. Jaideep Dore and Bobby Yan won two of three sets for Irvine (5-8, 2-3).

In the Sunset League:

Fountain Valley 12, No. 9 Esperanza 12 (Fountain Valley wins on games, 86-80)--Jetson Nguyen clinched the victory for Fountain Valley (7-5, 3-2) with a 7-6 (7-5) singles victory.