Mission Viejo Easily Beats Villa Park

Fourth-seeded Mission Viejo moved into the second round of the Southern Section Division II playoffs Tuesday with an easy 14-4 victory at home against Villa Park.

Mission Viejo Coach Bill Smith worried that the victory might have come too easily for the fourth-seeded Diablos (18-3), who don’t figure to be seriously challenged until the semifinals.

“I’ll give us a C-plus,” Smith said. “We’re tired. My trick is to find the fine line between not working them and working them too hard. They’re struggling right now with staying motivated.”

And staying healthy.

No. 2 singles player Can Akturk played through the flu to win two of three sets, and No. 2 doubles player Kareem Lorseydi battled a stiff neck and won only one of three sets with his partner Derek Shoji. But even with the lethargy and minor ailments, Mission Viejo was able to down Villa Park for the second time this season.

Eric Bachelor swept three at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 and the Diablos second and third doubles teams of Jerome Gfeller and Leandro D’Agostini and Ali Nourbakhsh and Steve Barry also swept. The best played set of the day came after the outcome was decided--Bachelor beat Villa Park’s Chris Tibbetts, 6-3, in a set that had seven service breaks.

In last year’s playoff match, Tibbetts’ defeat of Bachelor was the key set in Villa Park’s upset of Mission Viejo.

“I wasn’t thinking about that all this year,” said Bachelor, who is 50-3 this season. “We have a lot stronger team this year. It’s more about the team than me. As long as our team moves on, it doesn’t matter what I do. If I win all three and we lose, we’ll stop playing.”

Mission Viejo will play Cypress on Thursday in the second round--a matchup Smith hopes will inspire his team. The Diablos are attempting to reach the semifinals for the first time in school history.

“It’s tough having played people we’ve already played,” Smith said. “It’s a long season and we’re tired. We’ll go real light [Wednesday]. We’ll try to find a reason for them to be focused on their next match.”

Villa Park finished 12-10.