Eagles handle Pirates

COSTA MESA — If the Estancia High boys tennis team could be compared to the characters of the HBO television series “Entourage,” singles standouts Bradley Fisher, Danny O’Neil and Ely Zaidler might all be considered the Vinces of the ensemble.

The Eagles’ doubles teams, whose star power dims considerably, may be relegated to the roles of Eric, Turtle and Drama in the lineup.

But, when it comes to the Eagles’ run through the CIF Southern Section Division IV playoffs, Coach Rachel de los Santos believes her doubles players are anything but hangers on.

“We can always count on our singles,” said de los Santos, after the Eagles swept nine singles sets in a 13-5 first-round win over visiting Morro Bay on Thursday.

“We hope for our doubles to show more consistency, because they have struggled with that this season.”

But all three doubles spots produced at least one set victory, and the No. 3 team of juniors Nick Oliver and Chris Koreerat managed to win two of three against the Pirates.

Oliver and Koreerat, who typically play at No. 1 doubles for the Eagles (14-5), were placed at No. 3 against the Pirates (11-5).

“I put them at No. 3 because I wanted to mix it up a little bit,” said de los Santos, whose Orange Coast League champion will square off against No. 2-seeded St. Margaret’s in Saturday’s second round, at a site and time to be determined.

“And [Oliver and Koreerat] usually take a while to get warmed up.”

Oliver and Koreerat, who began playing together the third round of league matches, were plenty warm enough to record a 7-5 win in the first set against the No. 3 Morro Bay pairing of Thomas Matzinger and Willi Reithofer.

The victory, Estancia’s lone doubles triumph in the first round, helped take pressure off the entire lineup, de los Santos said.

“It takes pressure off our doubles, because we usually only need them to win one set,” de los Santos said. “And it takes pressure off our singles, because they know they can drop a set and we’ll still be in good shape.”

Oliver and Koreerat also posted a 6-4 victory over Morro Bay’s No. 2 pairing of Ryan Garcia and Anthony Santa Cruz.

Estancia’s Kevin Thomas and substitute Kenneth Zich posted a 6-2 win over Morro Bay’s No. 3 tandem, while the Eagles’ No. 1 duo of Rony Argueta and Carlos Macias were 6-4 winners over the Pirates’ No. 3 pairing.

“We know our doubles are going to come through,” said Zaidler, a sophomore playing at No. 3 singles who won all 18 of his games Thursday.

Fisher, a junior who defeated sophomore teammate O’Neil in the Orange Coast League singles final May 2, won 18 of 20 games against the Pirates.

O’Neil won 18 of 22 games, putting the Eagles in good shape, had they had to deal with the games tiebreaker invoked when both teams win nine sets.

Zaidler said it was the best he has played in some time. He said he the fact that it was a playoff match created no extra nerves.

“It’s still just tennis,” he said. “It’s just a matter of playing the game you know how to play.”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.

CIF Southern SectionSingles -- Fisher (E) def. Eckert, 6-0, def. Ion, 6-1, def. Ross, 6-1; O’Neil (E) won, 6-0, 6-3, 6-1; Zaidler (E) won, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.

Division I Playoffs

First round

Estancia 13, Morro Bay 5

Doubles -- Argueta-Macias (E) lost to Finegan-Upton, 2-6, (sub) Argueta-Ippolito (E) lost def. Garcia-Santa Cruz, 3-6, Argueta-Macias (E) def. Matzinger-Reithofer, 6-4; Thomas-Varma (E) lost, 3-6, 0-6, (sub) Thomas-Zich (E) won, 6-2; Koreerat-Oliver (E) lost, 4-6, won, 6-4, 7-5.