No. 3 Corona del Mar overpowers No. 5 Woodbridge

At one point it looked as if Woodbridge might recover from a stumbling start against Corona del Mar, but the Sea Kings didn't let up and stayed in control.

The No. 3 Sea Kings won eight of nine singles sets on the way to a dominating victory over No. 5 Woodbridge, 14-4, in a nonleague boys tennis match Wednesday at Corona del Mar High.

The Sea Kings won their fifth contest in a row and improved to 5-2, and the Warriors fell to 4-2.

“I'm really happy,” Corona del Mar coach Brian Ricker said. “The team is getting better every match. Today was a great win. Singles played very well.”

The Sea Kings swept singles play in Rounds 1 and 3. They led 5-1 after the opening round, helped by a victory by their No. 1 doubles team of Parker Rhodes and Matt Fisher, 7-5.

Early in Round 2, the Warriors led in enough sets that it appeared they might cut deeply into the Sea Kings' lead. However, the Sea Kings battled back, No. 2 singles player Ryan Peyton won another close set, 7-5, and Corona del Mar finished the round with a 9-3 lead.

“I was lucky to pull that one out,” Peyton said. “We thought Woodbridge was a solid team, but we played really well and the score showed it.”

Peyton swept his matches, as did No. 1 singles player Shane Korber (6-2, 6-1, 6-3). The doubles team of Rhodes and Fisher also swept, winning its other two sets, 6-1, 6-2.

“We knew Woodbridge would be tough,” Korber said. “They have a couple top singles players. We wanted to win at least a couple. We both played well. There No. 1 was a little off, but we executed and did what we had to do.”

The Warriors' other loss this season was to No. 2 Mater Dei, 11-7. Coach Ric Barth exepcted another close match Wednesday.

“We didn't play well,” Barth said. “I thought we would be better in singles. They were deeper and they outplayed us. We need to learn from our mistakes. We took a bad loss and we need to come back and fight.”

Corona del Mar has juggled its lineup since it started the season with losses to Mater Dei and Beverly Hills.

Ricker called up Ismaen Aboubakare from junior varsity to play No. 3 doubles. He teamed with Joel Ishii to win two of three sets against the Warriors.

Ricker also moved Chris Damion from doubles to No. 3 singles. Damion won two of three sets  Wednesday.

“We were still searching for a lineup at the start, but today was the best they played so far,” Ricker said.

Contact the writer: ctobolski@ocregister.com