Irvine Valley's men's tennnis player Simon Guillin was down to his last point - twice - in the deciding singles match between the Lasers and College of the Desert with a trip to the CCCAA Team State Championship on the line.
It was no problem for the freshman from France, who not only battled back to win that game and tie the set at 5-5, but also claimed the next two games to pull out a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5 victory over Felipe Fuentes at No. 2 singles.
The victory gave Irvine Valley, which was seeded first in the Southern California Regional, a 5-4 win over No. 2 College of the Desert in the regional final on Saturday at Irvine Valley.
The Lasers (17-2 overall) received a boost in the regonal final when head coach Ross Duncan attended the match. Duncan was scheduled to leave early Saturday for Boca Raton, Fla. where he will compete for the United States in Senior International Team Play (Italia Cup - men's age 35) for the third straight year this coming week.
Duncan didn't want to miss his team in action.
The Lasers put on a show.
Irvine Valley started by winning two of three doubles matches to take an early lead.
The team of Guillin and freshman Guillermo Ucelay won its match at No. 2 doubles, 8-4.
And the team of sophomore Steven Le and freshman Kevin Pham won, 8-6, at No. 3 doubles.
IVC lost the No. 1 doubles contest, but it was close.
College of the Desert's Arthur Castro and David Bensoussan defeated the freshman duo of Jack Divorty and Benjamin Groud, 8-7 (3).
The two teams split the six singles matches, but IVC won two of the first three to take a 4-2 lead.
Ucelay beat Desert's Zach Lidster, 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 1 spot.
Groud pulled out a 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 win over Pedro Carle at No. 3 singles.
But Desert came storming back, taking three-set wins at the No. 4 and No. 5 singles positions to tie it up in matches at 4-4.
Guillin answered with his heroics to send Irvine Valley, which had never even made the playoffs before this season, on to the state championship.
Irvine Valley, champion of the Orange Empire Conference this season, now moves on to take on the top team from Northern California and the two-time defending state champion Fresno City on Wednesday in the CCCAA State Championship Team final at Ventura College at 12 p.m.
Singles
1) Guillermo Ucelay (IVC) def. Zach Lidster (COD), 6-1, 6-4
2) Simon Guillin (IVC) def. Felipe Fuentes (COD), 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5
3) Benjamin Groud (IVC) def. Pedro Carle (COD), 3-6, 6-1, 6-0
4) David Bensoussan (COD) def. Steven Le (IVC), 6-1, 4-6, 4-6
5) Joaquim Zumiga (COD) def. Kevin Pham (IVC), 6-0, 6-0
6) Arthur Castro (COD) def. James Lafond (IVC), 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
Doubles
1) Castro/Bensoussan (COD) def. Jack Divorty/Groud (IVC), 8-7 (3)
2) Guillin/Ucelay (IVC) def. Lidster/Carle (COD), 8-4
3) Le/Pham (IVC) def. Fuentes/Marcelo Rezende (COD), 8-6
