Servite Makes Stunning Turnaround

Servite Coach Dick Fumanti hadn’t totally given up on his team, but he was already talking about next year and life after Ryan Moore, the Friars’ star the last four years.

Fumanti’s players, however, had other ideas. They rebounded from a four-set, second-round deficit to eke out a 9-9 (76-73 in games) victory over a shellshocked Garden Grove team Thursday at the Anaheim Tennis Center in the second round of the Southern Section Division III playoffs. Servite defeated Garden Grove earlier this season, 74-71.

The odds of Servite forcing the match to games Thursday were long. The Friars (19-2) trailed, 8-4, after two rounds and hadn’t won a doubles match. Two quick singles victories by Moore, who didn’t drop a game all day, and Brock Heimann gave the Friars hope and narrowed their game deficit to 62-57.

Then, in the next 15 minutes, Servite’s No. 3 singles player Rafael Sweet finished off Mugsy Nguyen, 6-3, and Jensen Omara and Peter Park won at No. 2 doubles over Garden Grove’s No. 3 team of Phi Dang and Long Vu. That gave Servite a 69-68 lead in games and put all the pressure on Servite’s No. 1 team of Oscar Zambrano and Mike Melby, who were tied, 4-4, against Sam Choe and Tony Choi.

Zambrano and Melby handled the pressure of the crowd and the big points better than Choe and Choi, winning, 7-5.

“We weren’t too nervous,” Melby said. “We were able to keep it cool and step it up when we needed too.”

Garden Grove Coach Damon Robbins was stunned.

“You don’t expect it, especially with doubles as my powerhouse,” Robbins said. “They usually don’t crack under pressure. They usually thrive on it. But Servite picked up the momentum and they carried it through.”

Robbins wasn’t making excuses, but he admitted his team missed No. 3 doubles player Denny Le, who inexplicably never showed for the bus ride to Anaheim.

“It meant our No. 3 singles player had to play doubles and a junior varsity player [Mugsy Nguyen] had to play third singles. It shook up our team a little bit before the match.”

Fumanti credited his doubles players for the comeback.

“They’re good doubles teams; they’re just erratic,” he said.

Fumanti was looking forward to changing his plans.

“My frame of mind was the [Southern Sectional individual tournament] this weekend,” he said. “Now I have to prepare our team for Tuesday.”

Servite will face second-seeded Santa Margarita in Tuesday’s quarterfinals. Garden Grove, which eliminated Servite in last year’s quarterfinals, finished 15-6.

In another Division III match:

Santa Margarita 16, Sonora 2--Derek Fears, Cody Shedd and Vishal Sidhar each swept in singles for host Santa Margarita (14-8). In doubles, Mike Doyle and Conor Friedersdorf won, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. Sonora finishes 15-6.