Damp highways and gray skies did not prevent travel to theMission College tennis courts. Forty-two players from communitycolleges throughout the Bay Area journeyed to Santa Clara on April18-19 with intentions of attaining one of eight invitations to theNor-Cal Tournament in Yuba City in early May.

James Liu (left) and Chad Fishbein(right) came out blazing in the Coast Conference Tournament andwere both within one win of qualifying for the Nor-Calfinals.

De Anza’s top two players, James Liu and Chad Fishbein, each wontheir first-round match in impressive fashion during the first dayof the annual Coast Conference Men’s Tennis Tournament but lost inthe second round in day two, failing to qualify for the Nor-CalTournament.

Opening day of the tournament came,and although the courts wereslick from the late April rain, tournament officials and playersalike were intent on letting the rackets roll.

The Dons’ hope of a Nor-Cal berth was in the hands of Liu andFishbein. Liu’s winning record throughout the season earned him theninth seed in the field of forty-two.

“James is a baseline player, real smart,” Dons head coach ChuckDougherty said. “He makes his opponents run and nobody likesplaying like that.”

Liu’s first-round opponent, Ca�ada’s Manny Delgado,discovered first-hand how frustrating an adversary Liu could be.Liu quickly won the first set and dismantled Delgado in the secondset so methodically that Delgado could be heard throughout thetennis complex abusing his racket and screaming obscenities. Liuhobbled away from the court favoring his right leg with a mild lookof disgust.

“My leg is a little tight, but I’ll be all right for tomorrow,”Liu said. “The guy [Delgado] was making me mad.”

Fishbein’s game is the polar opposite of Liu’s. Fishbein has thementality of a Kenyan marathon runner; endurance and guts are hisforte.

Liu said of Fishbein, “He never gives up. He keeps coming atyou. He’s a hustler.”

Fishbein had been bedridden for the week leading up to his firstround match with Mission’s Edward Cuello. Although Cuello had thehome-court advantage, he could not halt Fishbein’s will to win. Thetwo battled and split the first two sets. They matched each othershot for shot, but Fishbein proved he wanted it more by clinchingthe victory in the deciding third set.

Day two would pose tough tasks for both Liu and Fishbein.Fishbein had the daunting task of playing Chabot’s Dimitri Dzyuba.Dzyuba was seeded first overall and has not lost a match allseason.�

Fishbein played him tough and did all he could to prevent arout. His hustle made it rough for the confident Dzyuba, but in theend, Fishbein could not keep up with Dzyuba’s power andfundamentally sound footwork. Dzyuba would win in straightsets.

“He killed everything I threw at him,” Fishbein said.

Dougherty was impressed with Fishbein despite the loss.

“He made him earn every point,” Dougherty said. “It wasn’t aneasy win.”

Liu was in trouble from the start of his match againstCabrillo’s Jason Tsui. After showing up two minutes late to thematch, which cost Liu the first game of the set, he could notovercome the momentum that gave Tsui. Tsui was quick on his feetand responded to everything Lui gave him.

After staying competitive in the first set, Liu never got goingand lost the second set and the match. Liu was honest when asked ifhis leg was a factor.

“My leg had nothing to do with it,” Liu said. “He beat mestraight up.”

All is not lost for De Anza’s duo; they did win their secondround match in the doubles field and earned a spot in Yuba City forthe Nor-Cal doubles final.