COMMUNITY COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : Marymount Is Serving Notice of Its Tennis Might

The Marymount College women’s tennis team has made a big turnaround this season. The Mariners, who finished sixth in the seven-member South Coast Conference last year, are undefeated in league at 7-0. They own impressive victories over third-ranked Long Beach City College and seventh-ranked El Camino College.

On Tuesday the Mariners beat Harbor, 8-1, and on Thursday they shut out Cerritos College, 9-0.

Marymount is rated in the state’s top 10 for the first time in the program’s history. The poll is released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn., which ranks the state’s top 12 community college teams and top 15 individual players.

Debbie Ferris, a sophomore and Marymount’s No. 1 singles player, is ranked 12th in the state. A solid ground stroker and an all-conference selection last year, Ferris is 6-1 in singles and 7-0 in doubles with freshman April Collins. Ferris missed all nonconference matches because of an injury.

Collins, who has a powerful forehand, plays No. 2 singles for the Mariners. Sophomore Kim VanLeewen, an all-conference selection last year, is 12-1 overall at No. 3 singles and Trish Kroll is 8-4 at No. 4 singles.

“Kim is the rock of the team,” Marymount Coach Kathy Alex said. “She’s a backboard who doesn’t miss a ball. Her nerves are always calm and she’s a controlled and poised fighter.”

Susie Schmidt and Kelly Johnson are undefeated this season at No. 3 doubles. Schmidt plays No. 5 singles and Johnson is undefeated at No. 6 singles.

“This is the best team we’ve ever had here,” Alex said. “We’re solid from top to bottom. In the past we couldn’t play good doubles. Now we’re really deep. When we first started the program we struggled just getting enough players. We were real bad and I was getting discouraged.”

But Alex says that last year things changed. She had more than 15 athletes try out for the team.

“It was amazing,” she said. “All of the sudden we had lots of players come out. It was great.”

Marymount has five matches left before the annual Ojai Tournament April 25-28. The SCC tournament will be held May 2-4 and the Southern California Regionals on May 9-11. The Mariners are on track to qualify for the State Championships on May 16-18 at a sight to be determined.

Alex is UCLA’s only four-time, All-American tennis player although Stella Sampras of Rancho Palos Verdes is on a pace to match the record. Sampras, a senior at UCLA this season, was an All-American as a freshman, sophomore and junior.

Alex, who appears in the record book as O’Brien, her maiden name, played at UCLA from 1979 to 1982. She competed on the women’s pro tour for about a year after graduating. In 1986 she taught a summer tennis class at Marymount and Athletic Director Jim Masterson asked her to start a tennis team.

“We started out as a club team,” said Alex, who lives in San Pedro with her husband and two children. “The second year we had a real team, but we weren’t very good. We only had seven players.”

El Camino men’s and women’s swim Coach Corey Stanbury says this season he has more than triple the number of athletes he had in 1989, his first year as the Warriors’ head coach.

“We have 34 people on the team,” he said. “Last year we had 23 and the year before we had about 10.”

The best part is they’re all quality athletes with a good chance at bringing home a state title. The Warriors proved that in a dual meet against Santa Monica City College earlier this season. Both the men and women beat the Corsairs.

“Our women beat Santa Monica for the first time in 10 years,” Stanbury said. “And our men had never beat Santa Monica before. It was a great victory for us.”

The men are led by sophomore Scott Peppard, an All-American last year in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle. Freshman Ron Corpus (North Torrance High) has already qualified for the state meet in the 100-yard breaststroke. The former junior champion also competes in the 200 breast. Freshmen Mark McCracken (Mira Costa) and Sean Lemm (Redondo) are also expected to qualify for the state meet, McCracken in the 100 breast and Lemm in the 200 and 500 free.

Ed Bangasser, the state’s top diver, is favored to win at least one state title this season. The sophomore from El Segundo finished third in the three-meter board and fourth in the one-meter board at last year’s state meet.

The women are led by freshmen Jeane Barrette and Katie Peterson. Barrette is a distance freestyler and a backstroker and Peterson is a backstroker and diver. All-American Michelle Zimmer is expected to do well in the one-meter board, an event she placed sixth in at last year’s state meet.

The El Camino women’s track team is undefeated (4-0) in dual meets this season. The Warriors have the state’s second-best 400-meter (47.5) and 1,600-meter relay (3:52.81) teams. They also have California’s top 800-meter runner in Latoya Polk, who also ranks among the state’s best in the 1,500 meters. The freshman recorded a 2:13.5 in the 800 meters at last week’s Cal Poly Pomona Invitational.

Tanya Acosta is also one of the state’s best 1,500-meter runners (4:57.7) and freshman Leschette Molette (Banning High) leads the state in the 100-meter hurdles (14.9).

The Warriors also have a pair of talented jumpers in Tiesha Holmes and Michelle Allen. Holmes, who placed second in the long jump at last year’s state meet, has jumped 17 feet, 8 1/4 inches this season. She also ranks among the state’s top five in the triple jump (37-1 1/2). Allen has a season best of 36-1 in the triple jump.