PREP TENNIS PLAYOFFS : Sunny Hills Girls Advance to 2-A Final

The Sunny Hills High School girls’ tennis team advanced to the Southern Section Division 2-A final by edging El Dorado Thursday in a match that came down to a difference in games.

The match at the Sunny Hills Racquet Club ended tied, 9-9, in sets, but the Lancers won on games, 74-62.

Sunny Hills (22-2), the Freeway League champions, will play Los Alamitos for the championship at 10 a.m. Tuesday at The Claremont Club.

The second-seeded Lancers, who finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the coaches’ poll behind Empire League champion Los Alamitos, pulled out the victory with a 38-26 advantage in singles games, even though they lost in sets, 5-4.

Sunny Hills’ No. 1 singles player, Kaja Dehli, won her sets, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1. One of her shutout victories was against El Dorado’s top player, Tracy Botha, who won her other sets, 6-3, 6-0.

Another major contributor for the Lancers in singles was Karen Galvin, who was a 6-0, 6-0 winner over Ann Syrapruik and Jenifer Llao, but lost to Botha, 6-3.

In doubles, Sunny Hills’ Chyra Redman and Hilary Carlson swept, 6-3, 6-2, 6-0. Tempe Graves and Bridgett Paddock won two of three sets for El Dorado (15-5).

Sunny Hills Coach Scott Penner said the victory was too close for comfort, but not surprising. “In the third round (quarterfinals), I started thinking we had a chance to win (the section championship),” Penner said.