Finding Their Way : El Toro Doubles’ Team Manages to Advance in Championships Despite Illness and Odds

When Monica McLin and doubles partner Noel Schmidt walk on to the tennis court this morning at the Racquet Club of Irvine, it wouldn’t be out of line if McLin asked Schmidt:

“Well, how did we get here?”

Actually, it’s an appropriate question considering the circumstances. To reach the round of 16 in today’s Southern Section individual girls’ tennis championships, El Toro High’s McLin and Schmidt needed victories over three more highly regarded teams last Saturday.

Throw in the fact that McLin had missed three days of school earlier in the week with bronchitis, and it wouldn’t be out of line if their opponents asked:

“Well, how did you get here?”

For a while, it looked as though McLin wouldn’t be going anywhere. She visited the doctor Friday afternoon to get permission to play. Meanwhile, El Toro Coach Al Jones and Schmidt were waiting by their phones for an answer.

Schmidt, a junior, was wondering whether her season had ended. And Jones was dreading the thought that the third-place doubles team in the South Coast League, Mission Viejo, would get to go instead.

But her doctor understood.

“It turned out he played No. 2 singles at UCLA,” Jones said. “He said she could play and gave her some medicine. Then he said, ‘Go right out and kick some butt.’ ”

She did--coughing and wheezing through three matches and seven sets Saturday.

“I would have been so mad if we didn’t play,” said Schmidt after practice Wednesday. “I would have never talked to her again. . . . “

Both girls started laughing.

“We knew we had to win because this is my last year,” said McLin, a senior.

That’s what Jones told them after they lost the second set to third-seeded Laura Spinner and Jenny Smith of Mater Dei in the last match Saturday. Schmidt was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but Mater Dei won it. El Toro won the match, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, when McLin and Schmidt rallied from a 4-5 deficit in the third.

In today’s round of 16, McLin and Schmidt play Rocky Engle and Amy Low of Claremont. Other doubles teams from Orange County competing are Capistrano Valley’s Jill Linhart and Michelle Foster, Debra Goldberger and Tanya Johnson of Edison, and Estancia’s Erin Hendricks and Natalie Hastings.

Those advancing in singles competition are Noelle Porter of San Clemente, Debbie Graham of La Quinta, Woodbridge’s Julie Willett, and Dorey Brandt of Sonora.

It was the first time in six years that anyone from El Toro had reached the Southern Section round of 16. When Jones began coaching the girls’ team in 1984, the Chargers hadn’t qualified for the team playoffs since 1974. His first year, El Toro finished fourth in the league and made the playoffs.

This year, the Chargers went further--winning their first-round playoff match against Riverside Poly--before being knocked out by South Torrance in the second.

During the regular season, McLin and Schmidt played singles. They decided to combine for league finals, figuring they would have a better chance for advancement.

“The best doubles team are the ones who have been together for a long time,” Jones said. “Even though they hadn’t played together much, they adapted their styles to complement each other after playing singles all year. Monica is much more of an aggressive, take-charge player, while Noel likes to stay back on the baseline.”

Said McLin: “We were just hoping to make it past league finals. I guess we were just hoping for the best. Now, that we made it this far, we want to win it.”