Woodbridge Overcomes Challenges to Keep Winning

The Woodbridge boys’ tennis team keeps losing players, yet somehow it keeps winning matches.

The Warriors’ regular season began with three of its top players leaving after a dispute over practice time with Coach Joan Willett. Two weeks ago, they lost their No. 3 singles player, Amir Bagherpour, when he dislocated his thumb and knuckles while defending himself against youths who allegedly attacked him in Lake Forest.

Tuesday, Woodbridge scored a comeback, 10-8, victory over Los Alamitos and moved into today’s Southern Section Division I semifinals against top-seeded Palos Verdes Peninsula.

“I haven’t counted them out of anything all year,” Willett said. “I’m not going to start now.”

Willett has inserted junior varsity player Chris Nguyen into Bagherpour’s singles spot. Nguyen played well against Los Alamitos despite losing all three sets.

“It’s such a tough break for Amir,” Willett said. “He’s such a team player and a really nice boy.”

Bagherpour will miss the remainder of the playoffs as well as this weekend’s section individual competition. He says he was attacked after he came out of a restroom at a Lake Forest gas station.

“I tried to run away but when he grabbed my throat, I struck him,” said Bagherpour. “I don’t think it was racial.”

Bagherpour, who is Iranian, tried to put a positive spin on the incident.

“What happened to me was pretty bad, but it could have been worse,” he said. “It’s just unfortunate it happened during the playoffs.”

Willett said Tuesday’s victory over Los Alamitos typified Woodbridge’s season.

“This has been a very gratifying season,” she said. “They really dug down deep [Tuesday]. They played on desire. They felt they had something to prove. Them making the final four, I don’t think a lot of people expected that.”

Woodbridge (17-5) has been without No. 1 singles player David Lingman and the doubles team of Greg Levy and Brandon Shainfeld, who chose to train with their private coach rather than play for the high school team. They have been without Bagherpour for all three playoff victories.

Adam Artunian, who replaced Lingman at the top of lineup and pulled out two big sets Tuesday, said his teammates have learned to roll with the punches, so to speak.

“We don’t know who’s on our team from one minute to the next,” Artunian said. “It’s an unfortunate situation. We want to win this badly for [Bagherpour].”