Substitute Dalton Smith won the clinching set to lift Laguna Blanca to a 10-8 non-league tennis win over visiting Carpinteria on Monday.
Smith came in for No. 1 player Tristan Prinz and defeated Sammy Gutierrez, 6-3, for the Owls’ 10th set win. Laguna lost only one set in singles. Ben Furukawa didn’t lose a game at No. 2 singles and Phillip Hicks lost just two games.
“It was a fun match,” Laguna coach Trevor Thorpe said. “Carpinteria stacked doubles, which was great for us because we are really still finding our way in doubles. It was good to get three competitive opponents.”
Carpinteria (7-8, ranked 10th in CIF Division 3) won seven of the nine doubles sets. Henry Farrell and Martin Barnick won the two sets for Laguna (6-4, ranked No. 2 in Division 4).
“I thought our boys really played well today, especially in doubles,” Carpinteria coach Charles Bryant said. “We overcame a slow start but quickly gained our footing and played a very solid match against a strong opponent.”
The Warriors’ No. 3 team of Jonathan Cleek/Collin Nathanson swept and played very consistently,” Bryant said. “Jonathan’s serve was working well today. And that paired with Collin’s scrambling helped lead them to their sweep.
No. 2 Ruben Andrade/Bryan Taira went 2-1 as did No. 1 Ben Murray/Sam Truax.
Sean Welty won Carpinteria’s lone singles set, 6-1.
“Overall, I was very pleased with our efforts as were the boys,” Bryant said. “Laguna has crushed us the past few years and have a very strong team this year, so we were very happy to have performed so well against that type of competition.”
