Eagles’ clinch share of crown

COSTA MESA — Danny O’Neil said he felt like he’d done this before on the tennis court.

Perhaps it was déjà vu for the sophomore.

The same opponent, court and score, with no one else hitting balls, just O’Neil and Laguna Beach’s Ben Biscarrat around.

Everyone watched closely, making the two believe this set would clinch at least a share of the Orange Coast League championship for their respective teams Monday.

If that were the case, O’Neil put himself in that eerily similar troublesome situation as before — down, 3-1, to the Breakers’ top singles player.

This time, Estancia’s No. 3 player had enough. O’Neil stormed back, winning the set, 7-5. But before celebrating the Eagles’ 10-8 victory with his teammates and the home crowd, someone let him in on something.

Estancia (12-5, 7-1 in league) clinched its first league title since 2004 before O’Neil’s comeback.

“Even if my guy had lost, [6-0], we would’ve tied, and then we would’ve won on games,” Estancia Coach Rachel de los Santos said. “The other coach had already counted the games.”

That coach was Laguna Beach’s Aaron Talarico, who knows Estancia can win the league crown outright if it beats Calvary Chapel in a regular-season finale at home today at 3 p.m.

If O’Neil or Biscarrat had bothered to look at Talarico sitting on the bleachers behind the gate, they would’ve known how vital their set played into which team won or lost.

Talarico showed no poker face, just a disenchanted look as O’Neil would go on to beat Biscarrat for the second time in three tries this season.

Talarico had good reason to be disappointed in Laguna Beach (8-8, 6-2). Before O’Neil battled back, Estancia dominated singles play, leading, 8-0. The fiercest threat in singles action, before Biscarrat’s, came from Bryant Schulman, a sub, against the Eagles’ top player in Bradley Fisher.

Fisher, like he did with every league opponent this season, toyed with Schulman, before winning, 6-3. The junior won his other two sets, 6-1, 6-1, staying undefeated in league.

After he was done, Fisher was more fascinated with watching O’Neil battle Biscarrat than talking about who has come closest to beating him this year.

The last time O’Neil and Biscarrat faced each other was at Laguna Beach on April 5. The only singles player to not claim his sets for Estancia was O’Neil, and the Eagles dropped the match, 10-8. O’Neil lost, 6-3.

This time, O’Neil told himself the result would go his way, like when he beat Biscarrat, 7-6 (7-3), in a tiebreaker in the first meeting between the two.

Taking some of the pressure off was winning his first two sets, 6-0, 6-0, and learning that Estancia’s No. 3 doubles team of Chris Koreerat and Nick Oliver won, 6-2, against the Breakers’ No. 2 team of Graham Unterberger and Sean Ochwat.

Now it didn’t seem to O’Neil, Fisher and No. 2 player Ely Zaidler that Estancia’s singles players had to do it all.

“We knew doubles had to step it up,” O’Neil said.

The six-year boys’ coach recognized the doubles players would elevate their play before the match. They wore it on their faces.

“They had a much more serious look than they normally do,” de los Santos said. “They knew how important even a [6-1 loss] would be over a [6-0 loss]. They really fought for every game.”

O’Neil found himself in a similar situation.

Down, 3-1, give up, and fall to one of his league rivals? No way. Too much on the line is how O’Neil saw the rubber match.

Instead of continuing with the strategy of placing shots down the lines that wasn’t panning out, O’Neil switched it up. Or as he said, he wanted to “shove it in his face.”

O’Neil did just that to Biscarrat, slamming the ball deep in his end to take a 6-5 lead. Biscarrat appeared perturbed. O’Neil said Biscarrat wanted him to attack the net as he hit drop shots. O’Neil wasn’t lured in.

“He knows that I’m not a strong volley [player],” O’Neil said. “I just tried to hit them deep to make those [drop] shots difficult.”

Orange Coast League

Estancia 10, Laguna Beach 8

Singles -- Fisher (ES) def. Biscarrat (LB), 6-1, def. Schulman (LB), 6-3, def. O’Connor (LB), 6-1; Zaidler (ES) won, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0; O’Neil (ES) won, 7-5, 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles -- Argueta-Varma (ES) lost to Wu-Michelon (LB), 3-6, lost to Unterberger-Ochwat (LB), 0-6, lost to Berkson-Rubel (LB), 2-6; Macias-Thomas (ES) lost, 1-6, 1-6, 0-6; Koreerat-Oliver (ES) lost, 1-6, won, 6-2, lost, 2-6.