Capistrano Valley in Final

It was almost too good to be true for the Capistrano Valley boys’ tennis team. The Cougars, shooting for their first Southern Section final in school history, were playing perennial power Palos Verdes Peninsula without its two best players, Rylan Rizza and Jeff Kazarian.

Capistrano Valley struggled early, but recovered to beat visiting Peninsula, 10-8, Thursday in the Division I semifinals. The third-seeded Cougars will play top-seeded Los Alamitos in the finals at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Claremont Club.

“We were given the opportunity to win and we took it,” Capistrano Valley senior Derrick Klunchoo said.

Capistrano Valley Coach Dana Bozeman knew Kazarian was out with a back injury, but he didn’t realize Rizza was in Georgia playing a national juniors tournament.

“I told them they had to step up and play,” Bozeman said. “That Peninsula wasn’t going to give it to them.”

He was right. The Panthers won two of three in singles and doubles and led, 4-2, after the first round.

“We were all pretty nervous and I was the most nervous of anybody,” said Robbie Lamour, who lost his first-round set to Shane LaPorte, 6-2, at No. 1 singles.

But Lamour came back to win his next two sets, 6-4 and 6-3, and his teammates settled down too. The Cougars won four of six sets in the second round to tie it, 6-6. The biggest win came from No. 3 singles player Logan Johnson, who upset the Panthers’ No. 2, Andrew Cohen, 7-5.

Doubles victories by No. 2 Evan Chaparro and Ajay Ahluwalia and No. 1 Chad Wallace and Matt Sherman gave Capistrano Valley eight points and Klunchoo’s 6-2 victory over Michael Guice gave the Cougars an insurmountable lead.

“This is amazing,” Klunchoo said. “My senior year and I’m going to the CIF finals. It’s awesome.”

It was better than that for Sherman, who was still celebrating his $32,000 prize on Tuesday’s “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” show.

“I didn’t think we had a chance before the season to get this far,” he said. “Before the match today, I thought we were going to lose.”