Woodbridge Sneaks Past Los Alamitos

Los Alamitos had two-time defending champion Woodbridge down to its last point twice, but the Griffins were unable to close the door and lost, 10-8, Tuesday in quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division I boys’ tennis playoffs at Woodbridge.

Woodbridge senior Adam Artunian, who saved a set point in the second round against sophomore Jon Nafarette, saved two set points in the third round against freshman Drew Hoskins.

Artunian, who struggled with his serve, stayed alive by simply keeping the ball in play.

“The way I’m serving I shouldn’t have won any sets,” said Artunian, who served at least 20 double faults in his three sets. “I was lucky.”

Artunian’s biggest save came with Hoskins leading, 5-3, 40-15. Hoskins appeared to put the ball away with an overhead at the net, but Artunian hit an overhead with his back to the net, from against the fence, landed on the baseline.

The fourth-seeded Warriors (17-5), who will face top-seeded Palos Verdes Peninsula in Thursday’s semifinals at an undetermined site, needed the last set from Artunian because of the gutty effort from Nafarette, who took three games from Woodbridge’s Ali Kermani despite severe cramping in his legs and arms.

Those three games tied the game score at 71 with the Artunian-Hoskins set in the balance.

“[Nafarette] came to play today,” Los Alamitos Coach Geoff Carter said. “He’s the all-star of this team.”

Almost lost in the shuffle were Woodbridge’s doubles teams, which won seven of nine sets. The No. 1 team of Tyler Call and John Sheridan swept, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

“It was a team loss,” Carter said. “We were just missing that one game.”

Los Alamitos, which has been eliminated by Woodbridge the last three years, finished 18-3.