Marina boys' tennis battles, falls to Woodbridge in CIF Division 1 title match
Darren Le said he has known his doubles partner, Justin Nguyen, since third grade at Circle View Elementary School in Huntington Beach. They'll be roommates at UCLA in the fall.
'We've been really tight,' Le said. 'I think I've known him for longer than I've not known him. That kind of puts it in perspective.'
The Vikings' five senior starters came oh so close to helping deliver the program's first CIF championship on Friday at University of Redlands.
Instead, it was Woodbridge that earned a tight 10-8 win in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship match.
Junior No. 1 singles player Brady Tallakson easily swept for the Warriors, who mobbed their doubles teams twice in the match after winning crucial sets. The final and clinching 10th set win came when Woodbridge's Ethan Yu and Mac Perkins topped Marina's Justin Nguyen and David Tran 6-4, though the Warriors also would have won if the match had been tied 9-9 and went to games.
'I'm definitely proud, but I'm not really satisfied,' Le said after the match, watching Woodbridge smile and take pictures. 'I can see them ecstatic and joyous. I mean, they're literally leaping for joy right now as a team. I envisioned us having that moment too, but some things just don't pan out the way you want them to. That's the tough part about tennis.'
Marina (16-4), making its first CIF finals appearance, stacked its doubles teams for the match. Coach Chuck Kingman paired his usual No. 1 singles player, senior Trevor Nguyen, with Le.
'I brought up the strategy,' Trevor Nguyen said. 'All of these guys on doubles, they're all seniors. I've been playing with them for four years, and we're really close. I was honestly a lot happier to play doubles and singles, because I could share these last moments, these last matches with these guys.'
The goal was to win four singles sets, and have the doubles teams of Trevor Nguyen and Le, as well as Justin Nguyen and Tran, both sweep their three sets.
Marina junior Alejandro Hill and freshman DJ Buchfeller accomplished the singles part of the equation, winning two sets each.
Trevor Nguyen and Le swept, 7-5, 6-3, 6-1. But Woodbridge (21-7) beat Justin Nguyen and Tran twice.
The Warriors' first key doubles win came in the second round, when Toby Law and Kartik Nain got past Tran and Justin Nguyen 6-4, rallying for the last three games of the set. That gave Woodbridge a 7-5 sets advantage headed into the final round.
Tran said he rolled his right ankle 'pretty bad' right before the CIF playoffs began, restricting his movement in a high quality doubles set.
'That match was just really close, just some minor serves and returns that we could have made more in,' Tran said. 'Just little errors that both of us made.'
Later, the match was tied 8-8 with two doubles sets remaining to complete. Law and Nain got past Marina seniors Kevin Brown and Eric Hagan for the ninth Woodbridge set, before Yu and Perkins closed out the match.
Woodbridge won its fourth CIF title in boys' tennis, the first since 1997.
'Beforehand, we knew that straight up we had the slight edge, but it would have been tough,' said Woodbridge's Tallakson, a Boise State commit. 'Them trying to [stack doubles], we didn't expect it, but our dubs were ready for it. We put in the work and we got it done.'
Kingman got a bit teary when describing the seniors and what they've meant to the program, though key players like Hill, Tran and Buckfeller will return.
'I'm really proud of all the boys,' Kingman said. 'They all competed, didn't get down. It actually was a lot closer than it felt. It felt like it kind of got away from us early, but looking at the numbers, it was really closer than it feels like. It was just a tough mountain to climb.'
Individual pursuits still remain.
Trevor Nguyen and Tran, the Sunset League singles champions, will compete in the CIF Southern Section Individuals tournament beginning on Thursday. Marina is one of five sectional sites.
Nguyen and Tran won the CIF Individuals title last year, and narrowly lost in the final of Ojai this year.
'Ojai and this [CIF team] tournament, we lost in the finals both times,' Trevor Nguyen said. 'We're honestly really hungry to win it all. This is our last chance, and we really want to capitalize on the opportunity we have.'
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