TENNIS TEAM PLAYOFFS : Trash Talk Doesn’t Faze University

Fourth-seeded University’s 14-4 victory over Marina Thursday in the second round of the Southern Section Division I tennis playoffs was never in doubt, although Marina’s verbal taunting and trash talking kept it interesting for a while.

Marina’s Noel Zosa was beaten by University’s Jason Meyers, 6-3, but he didn’t go down quietly. Zosa spent much of his energy degrading Meyers’ appearance and his hometown of Irvine.

Meyers simply shrugged it off.

“It didn’t bother me in the least,” Meyers said. “I was playing my own match. I just blocked everything out.”

The loud chatter continued on the doubles court, where Marina’s Austin Harris and Ryan Lipson were losing to University’s Eric Peterson and Brian Schneier, 7-5. This time, Peterson and Schneier didn’t keep quiet and began mimicking Harris’ and Lipson’s verbal taunts.

But in the end, none of the chitchat mattered much as University took all nine singles matches and five of nine in doubles.

“I was impressed with the way my guys played,” University Coach Josh Davis said. “There were a lot of distractions out there.”

Marina Coach Chico Bonner didn’t quite see it that way.

“These guys (University) let little distractions bother them,” Bonner said. “Good players don’t let anything bother them.”

And Bonner acknowledged University had some good players.

“They’ll do well, but I don’t think they dominated us,” Bonner said. “I think we played well. I don’t think these guys are gods.”