Hassan Abbas threw the ball over his head, pulled his racket through and drove the Ventura College men's tennis team into the state final.

The Pirates top singles player completed his straight-sets victory with the ace that clinched host Ventura's 5-0 sweep over Grossmont in Tuesday's Southern California dual championship.

"You couldn't ask for anything more," said Abbas. "On to the final."

Ventura (23-0) will play Fresno City in the state final Thursday at El Dorado Tennis Center in Long Beach.

"We're going," said Ventura coach Nelson Emery. "We get to play for it.

"They all took care of business."

The Pirates beat Fresno, 6-3, on March 28. Fresno defeated Ventura in its previous state final appearance under Emery in 2004.

"There's still a big goal to play for," said sophomore James Preston. "We want to go down there and give Fresno a hiding on Thursday."

That might have been the motive for the Pirates throughout the state's dual team playoffs, when Ventura has piled up three wins by a 16-0 margin.

There has yet to be the need to play a doubles match.

The Pirates didn't drop a set in Tuesday's match, which took barely an hour.

Preston swept Alex McDaniel 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4 singles.

"I got off to a good start," said Preston, who overcame a back injury. "I was battling an injury more than I was battling him."

Westlake High product Ben Steensland returned after missing the first two weeks of the postseason with tennis elbow to power past Brian Howarth, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 6 singles.

"It felt good," said Steensland. "I've been bumming missing the playoffs.

"I felt 100 percent. I was playing pretty well today."

Which is good news for the Pirates entering Thursday.

"Ben's an X factor for us," said Emery. "If he's healthy, he's a solid point for us."

The Brazilian duo of Diego Almeida and Alexandre Rigobello christened the celebration by spraying some bubbly beverage on their teammates they gleefully produced out of the trunk of a car.

"It was a surprise," smiled Almeida.

But they first produced on the court. Almeida cruising past Manuel Castillo 6-2, 6-3, and Rigobello speeding past Gustavo Rodriguez, 6-2, 6-3.

"I was nervous because it was the (Southern California) final," said Almeida.

But the butterflies only lasted through the first set.

Even the one Ventura player who struggled through the opening set pulled through. Matthias Muster fought back from a 5-4 deficit to win the first set on a tiebreaker.

Muster was even, 1-1, in the second set when he paused to watch Abbas end his match, 6-3, 6-4, to clinch the win and make Muster's match a moot point.

"I didn't want to lose, but I knew I could count on my teammates," said Muster. "I looked over and saw Hassan's serve."

"Come on," screamed Abbas as he was mobbed by his teammates.