Irvine Valley's men's tennis team made its entry into the 2014 CCCAA Dual Team South Regional Championship a good one.
The Lasers scored a 5-1 win over Grossmont at home Tuesday afternoon in their first ever playoff match.
Irvine Valley, which is the top-seeded team in the South, improved its record to 15-2 overall, while No. 8 Grossmont saw its season end at 17-7.
"It is very exciting," IVC Coach Ross Duncan said. "We just want to keep it up. We are having so much fun playing this season and we want it to go on as long as we can.
The Lasers, who captured the Orange Empire Conference title for the first time ever this season, won two of the three double sets to start off against Grossmont.
The Lasers got wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions.
The team of freshmen Guillermo Ucelay and Simon Guillin won, 8-3, and the team of sophomore Steven Le and freshman Kevin Pham came out on top, 8-1.
Irvine Valley then won the first three matches in singles to close out the overall victory.
Le won his match easy at No. 3 singles, 6-0, 6-0.
Freshman Max Rumeau earned a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles and Kevin Pham clinched the win with a 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 4 singles.
The matches at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5 singles were abandoned because IVC had the required five match wins.
The Lasers will host again in the regional semifinals next Tuesday, playing No. 4 Mt. San Jacinto at 2 p.m.
"Our guys are ready for the playoffs," Duncan said after the win over Grossmont. "We have been talking about this since the beginning of the season and we have been building to this point for a while. The guys just have to keep believing in themselves."
Doubles
1) Gustavo Castro/Alan Lamas (GC) def. Benjamin Groud/Jack Divorty (IVC), 8-3
2) Guillermo Ucelay/Simon Guillin (IVC) def. Eric Alm/Brett Pearce (GC), 8-2
3) Steven Le/Kevin Pham (IVC) def. Ryan Torio/Chris Proctor (GC), 8-1
Singles
3) Le (IVC) def. Alm (GC), 6-0, 6-0
4) Pham (IVC) def. Torio (GC), 6-0, 6-1
6) Max Rumeau (IVC) def. Alex Bourdeaux (GC), 6-0, 6-1
1) Castro (GC) led Ucelay (IVC), 6-2, 0-5 (abandoned)
2) Guillin (IVC) led Lamas (GC), 6-3, 2-3 (abandoned)
5) James Lafond (IVC) led Pearce (GC), 6-1, 4-1 (abandoned)
