The Preps : SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : Tennis Roundup : Woodbridge Rallies Just in Time to Hold Off San Marino

With his team trailing going into the third and final round of the Southern Section 3-A boys’ tennis semifinal Thursday, Woodbridge High School Coach Greg Tarr couldn’t hide the worried look on his face.

The Warriors, the 3-A’s top-seeded team, were not holding their own against unseeded San Marino, although they were playing at their home court, the North Lake Tennis Club, with about 100 very vocal supporters.

“Don’t stress, Mr. Tarr!” one Warrior fan shouted. “Don’t stress!”

As it turned out, those encouraging words were wise words because Woodbridge settled down in the final round and won five of six matches for a 10-8 victory.

The Warriors (19-4) advance to the 3-A finals, where they will meet Sunny Hills, a 10-8 winner over Laguna Beach Thursday. San Marino (20-4), the two-time defending 3-A champion, played without its No. 2 singles player, Reid Slatterly (broken hand).

While Woodbridge started well in the singles--No. 1 Randy Ivey and No. 3 Chris Emory gained 6-0 first-round victories--the Warrior doubles had their troubles as they lost all three matches in the first round, and two of the next three in the second.

But the one second-round doubles victory that Woodbridge managed to win--a grueling 7-6 tiebreaker victory by No. 2 team of Rajan Saggar and Brett Isaacman over No. 1 Matt Rawlins and Steve Edmundson--seemed to spark the Warriors to a new level in the third and closing round.

“That tiebreaker match was crucial for the team,” Isaacman said. “And when we won, it lifted the whole team up.”

And not a moment too soon. The Warriors gained last-round victories from Ivey (a 6-4 victory over San Marino’s top player, John Fruttero), Emery (6-1 over Mike Yung), Alex Steinhardt (6-0 over John Despirito), and the doubles teams of Saggar and Isaacman (6-3 over Brendon Johnson and Albert Kim), and Victor Ro and Darren Isaacman (6-3 over Rawlins and Edmundson).

Ivey, a senior bound for UC Irvine who is ranked 15th in Southern California tennis rankings for boys’ 18 years-and-under, was the only player to sweep all three of his matches.

In the 4-A semifinals:

Beverly Hills 11, Corona del Mar 7--Bill Wright won, 6-0, 6-2, 6-0, and Beverly Hills (18-6) won all nine singles sets at home.

Santa Barbara 12, Dana Hills 6--Santa Barbara (24-0), the top-seeded team and defending 4-A champions, advances to the championship match for the second consecutive season. Dana Hills finishes the season 17-4.