Mesa sends slight scare

Rick Devereux

The Costa Mesa High boys tennis team knew what the stakes were when

the Mustangs faced host Orange Tuesday in a Golden West League

showdown.

Mesa needed to beat the Panthers in order to stay in contention

for a shot at the league title. Orange needed to win the match in

order to secure its first league championship since 1981, a span of

24 years.

Even though the Panthers won, 11-7, Costa Mesa put a scare into

Orange head coach Richard McFarland in the final round of play.

Orange looked like it would run away with the match, opening up a

5-1 lead after the first round and jumping ahead 9-4 with the third

round yet to be played.

The Panthers only needed one victory in the final five sets to

lock up the title, but Costa Mesa went on a winning streak.

Huy Le won, 7-6, in No. 2 singles.

Brian Nguyen and John Dang won, 6-4, in No. 1 doubles.

Huy Dang and Thomas Kosnosky won, 6-4, in No. 2 doubles.

It was suddenly, 9-7, and the other two sets were too close to

call. It seemed like it would be tied, 9-9, after the third round and

the match would have been decided by which team won the most games.

But Tony Ly, subbing in at No. 2 singles for the Panthers, won,

7-6, to seal the win. Peter Phan and Darrell Knapp finished with a

6-3 win in No. 3 doubles for the final.

“I’ve never seen this happen to one of my teams before,” McFarland

said regarding the last round comeback by Costa Mesa. “We kept losing

easy points.” Le’s win was the only singles’ victory for the Mustangs

(10-6, 9-2 in league).