San Diego Section Girls’ Tennis : Top Two Singles Seeds Missing for Individual Finals

Neither of the top singles seeds will be on hand today when the San Diego Section girls’ tennis individual finals take place at Bishop’s School.

Valhalla High School’s Katrina Crawford, the No. 1 seed, defaulted to No. 4 Julie Coakley of La Jolla in the semifinals Tuesday at Bishop’s. Crawford chose to play in the national indoor tournament in Kansas City instead.

Shannon Crockett of Bishop’s, the No. 2 seed, played Tuesday but was upset, 6-2, 6-4, by No. 3-seeded Christy Drage of Mission Bay.

The top-seeded doubles pairs were more successful in the semifinals. The No. 1 seeds, Tina Kahan and Kim Rostovsky of La Jolla, beat third-seeded Jonelle Ayson and Charissa Cosky of Mt. Carmel, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6).

Kaliko Yandall and Stephanie Hake of University, the second-seeded duo, beat No. 5-seeded Sybil Schlotman and Marilee Ogren of Poway, 6-1, 6-1.

Kahan and Rostovsky meet Yandall and Hake this afternoon at 1, followed immediately by the Drage-Coakley singles match.

The singles and the doubles have All-City Western League championship matchups.

Kahan and Rostovsky, undefeated this season, beat Yandall and Hake twice this fall, both times in three sets.

Drage, who has lost once this year, beat Coakley in three sets during the regular season and in two sets during the City West tournament.

Crawford, the defending singles champion, played in the first three rounds of the Section tournament last week. She was also at Bishop’s Monday before semifinal action scheduled for that day was rained out.

Tuesday morning, though, Crawford left for the national indoor tournament in Kansas City. She didn’t inform tournament officials of her decision.

Crawford’s default left Crockett as the favorite in the singles division. But Crockett, who plays a baseline game, was unable to overcome Drage’s strong serve-and-volley attack.

In their doubles match, Kahan and Rostovsky found themselves trailing, 5-1, in the second set after taking the first set handily. Kahan and Rostovsky scrambled back to force a tiebreaker, which they won.

Rostovsky said she and Kahan are especially intent on winning the Section title since they lost in the final last year.

“This is very important,” Rostovsky said. “We’re seniors, and I think we’ve worked hard enough this season after getting to the finals last year.”