Lightning strike late, but still edge Pirates

NEWPORT BEACH — Troy Astorino missed his chance to climb the fence and shake it.

The first time, Astorino avoided the fence, staying away from the court where his Sage Hill School boys’ tennis teammates earlier saw Santa Ynez go berserk.

The second time, Astorino was competing on the same court. In the final set Saturday, he managed to shake more than the fence.

Astorino rattled 12 of the final 14 points en route to beating the singles player who earlier gave the Pirates a reason to go crazy on the fence. They weren’t at the end.

The Lightning jumped on the fence and quickly let go. They hurried to the court and mobbed Astorino.

Astorino’s 6-3 victory against Juan Ferrer clinched a seventh straight quarterfinal berth for Sage Hill as the No. 4-seeded Lightning avoided an upset in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division IV playoffs. The Lightning won in games, 83-68, after Astorino tied the match at 9-9 at Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

When the match came down to Astorino, a No. 2 singles player, against Ferrer, a No. 3 player, both teams had two strong seniors.

Ferrer had already defeated junior Alex Koeberle and senior Kevin Wang, the Academy League singles champions the past two seasons. Ferrer wasn’t even the Los Padres League individual champ for Santa Ynez this year.

He sure performed like one, pounding away winners. The best came during a 7-6 victory against Koeberle, taking the tiebreaker, 12-10.

Stunned is how Sage Hill Coach A.G. Longoria looked, his Lightning down, 7-5, after the second round.

When No. 1 singles player Miles Seemann beat Wang, 6-2, it gave Santa Ynez a 9-8 lead late in the third round.

One set left to play. With everyone watching, Longoria had faith in Astorino, who was 1-1 in sets before meeting Ferrer.

“Troy has always come through for us,” Longoria said. “We were leading by 10 games and we had to win the set or we were going to go home.”

Astorino kept Sage Hill (15-7) alive in the postseason and sent Santa Ynez (16-6) home. The drive back most likely will be longer than the three-hour drive in the morning.

Traffic on the 405 Freeway or 101 Highway won’t be as frustrating to the Pirates as dropping a match they almost had. Win half of the sets in the final round and Santa Ynez is moving on to the quarterfinals. Instead the Lightning will play at Viewpoint of Calabasas Tuesday.

Sage Hill’s No. 2 doubles team of Andrew Yun and Sean Batten easily claimed their first two sets, dropping only three games. The duo went on to win its last set, 6-1.

“They’re the ones who kept us in this thing,” Longoria said.

Astorino closed it out for the Lightning. He figured it would play out this way after Koeberle fell to Ferrer.

Someone had to tell Astorino that Ferrer took the set because Astorino said he couldn’t watch him play.

“I went over there,” said Astorino, pointing toward an area where people listened to music, not grunts on the court.

“It was so nerve-racking.”

The next thing Astorino had to deal with was playing the waiting game. Ferrer rested because his set in the second round ran long.

Once the two hit the court, Ferrer blasted serves Astorino struggled with, calling them the hardest he’s ever had to return.

Astorino eventually caught up.

With the set tied at 3-3, Astorino turned it on. At one point he reeled 10 consecutive points, his serve and volley game leading the way to Sage Hill’s clinching victory.

“Part of it was that I mentally just focused and part of it was he had a huge [set] before,” Astorino said of the reasons for his success against Ferrer. “It was probably emotionally and physically draining [for him].”

Astorino looked spent as well. He wasn’t about to climb anything. His teammates did, and they thanked Astorino moments later for the chance by shaking him as hard as they did the fence.

CIF Southern Section Division IV playoffs

Second round

Sage Hill 9, Santa Ynez 9, 83-68 games

Singles – Koeberle (SH) lost to Seemann, 3-6, lost to Ferrer, 6-7 (12-10), def. Herman, 6-2; Astorino (SH) lost, 3-6, won, 6-3, 6-0; Wang (SH) lost, 2-6, 2-6, won, 6-0.

Doubles – Kurzweil-Manolakas (SH) lost to White-Cole, 4-6, def. Collison-Reats, 6-4, def. Mann-Delunas, 6-0; Yun-Batten (SH) won, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2; Berchtold-Apramian (SH) lost, 1-6, 4-6, 4-6.