Bryce AldertonJust like their singles counterpart, Corona...

Bryce Alderton

Just like their singles counterpart, Corona del Mar High’s doubles

team of Wesley Miller and Issei Saida fought gallantly in a first

set, but then came the second stretch of games.

University’s Matt Chou and Michael Haier, the top-seeded duo,

survived the first set, 6-4, before applying greater pressure to

secure a 6-1 triumph in the second set to win the Pacific Coast

League doubles final Wednesday at Laguna Beach High.

Miller and Saida’s teammate, Garrett Snyder, also suffered a 6-4,

6-1 letdown in the league singles final Wednesday, marking the first

time since CdM entered the PCL in 2000 that the school did not win

either a singles or doubles league title.

Miller and Saida, seeded No. 2, defeated a Northwood duo, 6-2,

6-3, in a semifinal earlier Wednesday, but met their match in Chou

and Haier, who had won an earlier set against the CdM tandem, 6-3,

when the teams faced each other earlier this month. CdM won the PCL

with University and Northwood finishing in a tie for second.

“They are really good, the toughest doubles team we have faced

this year,” Saida said.

Chou and Haier played together last year while Miller, a

sophomore, and Saida, a senior, began playing this season.

Both teams held serve midway through the first set, but University

gained the edge when CdM lost its fire.

“It could have gone either way in the first set, but in the second

set we weren’t as aggressive on some balls as we should have been,”

Saida said.

CdM Coach Tim Mang shook his head at times, often shouting, “Move

your feet.”

“When you play in championship doubles, it is all about moving,”

Mang said. “You can’t get away with wailing from the baseline.”

Chou and Haier, part of University’s CIF Division II championship

team last year, ended CdM’s three-year run of doubles dominance in

the PCL. Snyder won the league doubles crown the last two years with

two different partners.

“My serve was going for me today and I was consistent with ground

strokes,” Haier said. “Matt and I have that extra level of confidence

every time we play. I always love beating CdM teams.”

CdM’s Brennan Roberts and Bryan Warsaw gave Chou and Haier a tough

time, but the University duo prevailed in a semifinal Wednesday, 6-1,

7-5. Roberts and Warsaw lost in the third-place match, 8-7, played

under eight-game professional rules.

As Miller and Saida walked off the court, Mang reflected on his

strategy for the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs, which

begin Saturday at 9 a.m. against visiting South Torrance.

“This makes me nervous,” he said. “I may have to bring one of my

singles players into doubles for the later rounds of CIF. I like to

keep my players guessing.”