Gauchos halt OCC three-peat

COSTA MESA — Knowledge is power.

Unfortunately for the Orange Coast College women’s tennis team, knowledge alone won’t get them into the California Community College state title match.

They know they were so close Tuesday at OCC in the Southern California Regional final. The Pirates were a Mahtab Davatolhagh foot injury away, to be exact. But when the freshman hurt her foot midway through her singles match, it meant the Pirates would have to default both her singles match and doubles match.

That took away any margin for error, and OCC eventually lost, 5-4, to visiting Saddleback College, stopping the Pirates from defending their back-to-back state championships.

“Had we come through with [Davatolhagh], we would have won this match,” said OCC Coach Janice Maran, who has led the Pirates to eight state titles. “But that’s life, you know? It’s just the way things happen sometimes, so congratulations to Saddleback. They did a real good job.”

Saddleback (15-2) built up a 4-1 lead including the defaults, but OCC (14-2) refused to fold. Jaleh Mazaheri and K.D. Doran both held on for three-set wins in singles, pulling OCC within 4-3.

Doran and Mazaheri are the Pirates’ only two sophomores, as well as the only two returners from last year’s state championship team that went undefeated.

“I sucked it up,” said Doran, a Corona del Mar High product who came back from a set down against the Gauchos’ Andrea Warren. “I figured if this is my last singles match, I might as well go out with a bang.”

OCC No. 1 Mazaheri, who won the Southern California regional singles title on Saturday in Victorville, battled the heat in her third set against Saddleback No. 1 Erina Hung. She nearly lost a 4-1 lead before prevailing, 6-4, in a match that lasted nearly three hours.

“I played it as if it were my last singles match, which now it is,” Mazaheri said. “I tried to give it all I had and fight through the pain and tiredness and heat. I just had to keep it together.”

Doran and partner Evelyn Wallace, a standout from Costa Mesa High, beat Warren and Nisa Meineke in a pair of close sets. That put the spotlight on Mazaheri and partner Heather Morton, an Estancia High product, who were playing Hung and Kathy Dennis in the No. 1 doubles match.

Mazaheri and Morton were behind the whole match, suffering a 6-2, 6-3 loss to clinch the match for Saddleback. For Hung and Dennis, it was the fourth time they had beaten the OCC duo this season, including in the Southern California regional doubles finals.

“They’re very aggressive and they communicate very well,” Mazaheri said of the Gauchos tandem. “They always play to win, they’re always headstrong and they just go for it.”

But the same could be said of the Pirates, who nearly made it to the state championships despite losing standouts like Jessica Rice, Emily Paulson and Julie Haley. All three now play for Concordia University.

Doran, the No. 7 player on OCC last year, said she enjoyed being a leader this season.

“I felt like I could play harder and play with my whole heart,” Doran said. “Last year, I was kind of nervous and scared, but this year I got to give it my all. And we all got along, which is really cool, even though there were only six of us.”

Maran said she was very proud of her team, which started the year with just five players.

“We know that had we been healthy, we’d be representing the south at the state championships,” Maran said. “That’s unbelievable. I’m just thrilled that we got to this point. It was excellent. They’re very, very good competitors.

“I’m really pleased with their mental strength.”

Mazaheri and Morton, as well as Doran and Wallace, have still qualified as doubles teams for the California Community College individual championships. Mazaheri will also compete in singles at the two-day, single-elimination tournament, which begins Friday at Cabrillo College in Aptos.

Southern California

Region Final

Saddleback 5, Orange Coast 4 -- Mazaheri (OCC) def. Hung, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Morton (OCC) lost to Dennis, 4-6, 0-6; Wallace (OCC) def. Meineke, 6-1, 6-0; Doran (OCC) def. Warren, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0; Davatolhagh (OCC) lost to Wallin, 4-3, default (injury); Pham (OCC) lost to Zwick, 0-6, 3-6.

Singles

Doubles -- Mazaheri-Morton (OCC) lost to Hung-Dennis, 2-6, 3-6; Wallace-Doran (OCC) def. Warren-Meineke, 7-5, 6-4; Pham-Davatolhagh (OCC) lost via default.