Singles players power Flintridge Prep girls’ tennis past Westridge

ARCADIA — With a couple of weeks left in the regular season, the Flintridge Prep girls’ tennis team remains in the hunt for a spot in the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

Flintridge Prep entered its Prep League home match against Westridge on Monday in third place behind Mayfield and rival Pasadena Poly.

Flintridge Prep turned to its singles players to keep it within striking distance, as Crystal Juan, Libby Penn and Suzie Kim swept their sets to help the Rebels register a 13-5 win at Arcadia Tennis Center.

Flintridge Prep fell, 9-9 (76-69 in games), to Pasadena Poly on Friday, and was looking to get back on track Monday.

“That turned out to be a very tough loss, but I like the way they regrouped today,” Flintridge Prep second-year Coach Morisa Yang said. “I thought they came back today by being very confident and our singles started us up.

“Our singles set the tone early for the whole team. I feel we can do well over these last several matches and we’ll see how it turns out. Our doubles teams are starting to play with a strategy and they’ve begun executing.”

Juan, the reigning All-Area Girls’ Singles Player of the Year, won, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, Penn was victorious, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, and Kim won, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, for the Rebels (5-7, 3-3 in league).

Penn, the No. 2 player, said the Rebels, who just missed qualifying for the playoffs last season, looked to show some resolve.

“We just needed to find a way to redeem ourselves after losing Friday,” Penn said. “I think we’ve been playing a lot better the last several weeks and it showed today. We believe we can keep winning.

“My serving was on and the forehand worked. I had been struggling with the backhand, but that mostly worked for me today.”

Kim also provided the Rebels with a lift in turning back Westridge (3-8, 1-7) for the second time this season.

“We were a little bit discouraged after the loss to Poly, but I like the way we responded,” Kim said. “Our doubles teams showed a lot of focus and we knew we had to step it up in singles.”

Flintridge Prep, which posted an 11-7 win against Westridge on Sept. 22, received doubles victories from Emilie Hu and Maya Khurana (6-2, 6-0) and Tiana Lopez and Nikki Glover (6-4, 6-4).

The Tigers got a sweep in doubles from Sofia Santoro and Jane Horner (6-1, 6-3, 6-0).

Flintridge Prep held a 4-2 lead after the first round and led, 8-4, entering the third round.

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Charles Rich, charles.rich@latimes.com

Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich