Easygoing Vaqueros Advance

The Irvine Vaqueros haven’t been to the Southern Section boys’ tennis playoffs in eight years. But Friday in the Division I wild-card round, they played and acted as if they go every year. The Vaqueros easily disposed of visiting Downey, 15-3, and advanced to the first round Tuesday at Long Beach Poly.

Irvine Coach Gary Russell said his team was so nonchalant, it worried him.

“I told the kids to be here at 2, they were real casual walking in at 2:30,” Russell said. “I said ‘You haven’t been here before.’ When I got in the playoffs, I was bouncing off the walls.”

Maybe the players knew something their coach didn’t. The Vaqueros (13-7) swept the first round and had the match clinched after two rounds, 11-1.

Jai-Deep Dore, who has been Irvine’s No. 1 singles player for four years, said the victory was gratifying, even though it wasn’t difficult.

“It feels good,” said Dore, who lost just one game in three sets. “We’re in the hardest league in the county and we usually finish fourth. But everyone played hard over the summer and we put more dedication into the matches this year.”

Irvine took third place in the Sea View League by sweeping Santa Margarita, a perennial tennis power. It also owns a victory over 10th-ranked Aliso Niguel.

“We have [five] seniors,” Dore said. “This will be our best chance to go far into the playoffs for a while.”

Downey (9-9), which finished third in the San Gabriel Valley League, didn’t give Irvine much of a test. It won just three sets and only two others went to 6-4.

Irvine’s Hadly Ogle and Eric Aarnes won two of three at second and third singles and the doubles teams of Bobby Yan and Bryan Richter and Vernon Lian and Pat Robbins swept.

Dore was a top-ranked junior player in Southern California as a 12-year-old, but he burned out on tennis and didn’t play for a year and a half. He will attend UCLA next year, but he doesn’t plan to go out for tennis.

“This is it for me,” he said. “I want to go out with a bang.”

If the Vaqueros get by Long Beach Poly, they would probably meet eighth-seeded Murrieta Valley. Russell said he would be pleased with one more victory.

“Once these kids get a taste of it,” Russell said, “they’ll be even more focused in for next year.”

In other Division I matches:

Fountain Valley 13, Downey Warren 5--Junior John Vu swept his match at No. 1 singles for Fountain Valley (10-7). The Barons will play Alta Loma on Tuesday.

In Division V:

Orange Lutheran 15, Riverside Woodcrest Christian 3--Derek Bartlett won, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, to improve to 33-0 for the Lancers (12-3) in their first-round match. Jason Lin and Matt Ngyuen won, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, for Orange Lutheran, which plays Pasadena Poly next Thursday in a second-round match at Pasadena.