Griffins Roll Into Division I Semifinals

Los Alamitos reached its second consecutive Division I semifinal in the Southern Section boys’ tennis playoffs with an unexpectedly easy 11-7 victory over host Capistrano Valley Tuesday.

The Griffins won six of nine doubles sets and took a 10-3 lead before Capistrano Valley rallied to make it respectable.

Fourth-seeded Los Alamitos (18-3) has been eliminated from the playoffs by Woodbridge four of the past five years, including last year in the semifinals. The Griffins probably wouldn’t mind seeing Woodbridge this season. The Warriors, who have lost six matches, are playing in Division III.

Los Alamitos will run into top-seeded and undefeated Palos Verdes Peninsula, which beat the Griffins, 14-4, this season.

“We’ll have to be really zoned in and focused on our task,” said junior Mike O’Bradovitch, who teamed with Jon Nafarrete to win three sets at No. 2 doubles. “Maybe we can come up with an upset.”

Capistrano Valley’s hopes for an upset were alive through the first round as the Cougars’ No. 1 singles player, Mike Nguyen, rebounded from a 4-2 deficit to beat Kevin McQuaid, 6-4. Nguyen’s comeback closed Los Alamitos’ lead to 4-2.

But Nguyen’s teammates couldn’t sustain the momentum. Evan Chaparro and Ben Feiner blew a 3-0 lead to John Kimmel and Marko Radisavljevic and lost, 6-4. Chad Whidtfeldt and Logan Johnson lost to Phil Davidson and Jason Wood, 6-4, and Derrick Klunchoo fell to McQuaid, 6-3. Nguyen captured the Cougars’ only point of the second round with a 6-1 victory over George Canete.

Capistrano Valley won 17 of its first 18 matches but had played only one team--Dana Hills--that was ranked in the county’s top 10. The Cougars’ schedule might have caught up with them Tuesday.

“I think we could have had a better lineup if we had played more ranked teams,” Johnson said. “We would have known what to expect against good teams.”

Johnson said his team expected to take six sets in doubles and four in singles.

“We just didn’t go out and play like we can,” he said.

In playing out the last round, Los Alamitos’ No. 2 singles player John Mano suffered an ankle injury. He was leading Nguyen 4-2, but had to default the set. Mano’s injury didn’t appear to be serious enough to keep him out of the Peninsula match.