Dana Hills Squeaks by University

Dana Hills’ doubles teams have been taking most of the blame for the Dolphins’ slow start. But the freshman team of Sumil Menon and Chase Ora came through for fourth-ranked Dana Hills on Monday with the match-clinching set in a 10-8 victory over fifth-ranked University in a nonleague boys’ tennis match.

The visiting Trojans (7-3) trailed, 5-1, after the first round but battled back by winning seven of the next 11 sets. With every other match finished and University down, 9-8, in sets and, 74-72, in games, Menon and Ora trailed University’s No. 1 team of Ian Flores and Scott Morgan, 5-2.

If Menon and Ora had lost the set by three games or more, University would have won the match on games. Had they lost the set 6-4 or 7-5, the teams would have been tied in games and sets. Three more rounds of tiebreakers between the doubles and singles players would have had to decide the match.

But thanks to Menon and Ora, it didn’t come to that. They rallied to tie the set, 5-5, then eventually won a tiebreaker, 7-6 (8-6), after fighting off two set points in the 12th game.

Menon and Ora also beat University’s No. 3 team of Anson Hsu and Jeff Lawrence, 6-4, after trailing 4-2. Dana Hills (5-3) wouldn’t have needed Menon and Ora’s heroics if its No. 1 team of Scott Jason and Blake Wilson-Hayden had won its final set. But Jason and Wilson-Hayden lost to University’s No. 2 Philip Osztermann and Eddie Lee, 6-1.

“We needed to get our confidence up,” said Dana Hills senior Brian Kent, who swept his three singles sets.

Kent needed to be sharp against University’s talented freshmen Henry Mak and Aaron Yovan and senior Greg Biorkman. He was--beating Biorkman, 6-3, Yovan, 6-2 and Mak, 6-0.