TENNIS ROUNDUP: VALENCIA TAKES ADVANTAGE OF LA CANADA MISFORTUNE.

Byline: Daily News

The Valencia boys' tennis team had an easier time than expected against visiting La Canada on Tuesday afternoon in a Southern Section Div. II first-round match, a 13-5 victory at the Paseo Club.

The Spartans (9-9), the third team out of the Rio Hondo League, had lost their No. 1 singles player just days ago and had put a player in an ambulance just hours before the match against Valencia, the Foothill League Champion for the third consecutive year.

La Canada learned during the match that its own Anan Muthiah had badly sprained his knee when he was hit by a friend's car earlier in the afternoon in the high school's parking lot.

``It threw me (off) knowing someone got hit by a car,'' said Valencia singles player J.J. Patino. ``And that they had a ranked player and I was maybe, or maybe not, playing him.

The Spartans No. 1 singles player, Jack Cooper, decided he would home-school with little more than a month left remaining in the school year and no longer would play tennis. But Patino and the rest of the Vikings singles players were unaware.

``I thought this guy was fooling me,'' Patino said. ``I was ahead 3-0 and I thought he was trying to get in my head.

All the commotion got both teams out of sync before the match even started.

When the dust settled, the Vikings' Patino, Nick Amico and David Foglesong took all nine singles points, off of La Canada's top three, who, they later learned, did not include Cooper.

Valencia (19-1) won the match mainly on the strength of its singles players, which dropped six games combined.

``I expected Valencia to have two good singles players, but not three,'' La Canada coach Will Moravec said.

The No. 1 doubles team of Aaron Sisson and Ryan Lassila also swept for the Vikings.

- Lauren Gustus

OTHER SOUTHERN SECTION GAMES

Division I

--Calabasas 14, El Toro 4: Calabasas (19-3) relied on strong doubles play for a victory over the at-large team out of the South Coast League.

Andy Rebhun and Greg Kipnis swept at No. 2 doubles and Jake Smith and Eric Lee swept at No. 3 doubles.

Calabasas will play Harvard-Westlake of Studio City (18-0) at the Studio City Swim and Tennis Center at 2 p.m. Thursday in a second-round match.

The Coyotes hosted Harvard-Westlake earlier in the year and were defeated 15-3.

--Thousand Oaks 12, Dos Pueblos 6: No.1 singles players Sam Querrey swept his matches 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 for Thousand Oaks (16-4) in a victory on the road.

Robby Diamond, the No. 2 singles player, swept his matches for the Lancers, who advance to play top-seeded Corona del Mar at 2 p.m. Thursday at a site to be determined.

The No. 3 doubles team, Blake Toland and Eric Stevens, won two of their three sets, which was key considering the Lancers' other two doubles teams managed just two victories in six matches.

Division IV

--Oaks Christian 11, Mayfair 7: Sophomore Zac Tsai swept all three of his singles opponents to help Frontier League champion Oaks Christian of Westlake Village (14-3) advance to the second round.

Tsai won 6-2, 6-3 and 6-0 to improve his '04 record to 48-3 on a team that boasts just one senior in its second boys' tennis season.

--Viewpoint 16, Orange 2: Geoffrey Chizever swept at No. 1 singles 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 for Viewpoint of Calabasas (17-2) in a quarterfinal victory at home.

Teammate Tyler Mullen, who plays No. 2, swept 6-4, 6-0, 6-0, and Sean Mazur swept 6-4, 6-3, 6-0.

Viewpoint's Reed Lerner/Todd Snyder lost to Robert Ma/Tony Hoang at No. 1 doubles, 6-7 (5-7) but swept their other two sets.