TENNIS : Calabasas Club Doubles as a Teen Center

The 98th Southern California Junior sectional championships will begin Saturday and will continue through June 30 in Fountain Valley. And more than 40 of the region’s finest junior players have invaded the 14 courts at the Calabasas Park Tennis & Swim Club in preparation for the event.

Players paid $300 for two weeks of specialized instruction three hours each day. The 40 juniors extended the club’s junior membership to about 100.

“It looks like we’ve turned the place into a juniors’ club, and I’m not sure if our members like that,” joked head professional Steve McAvoy.

Many of the region’s top players will compete.

Darren Potkey (Ventura), Gary Potter (Thousand Oaks), Mark Ellis (Camarillo), Mike Bannister (Newbury Park) and Alex Lynch (Ventura) will compete in the boys’ 18s. Camarillo’s Molly White, Calabasas’ Stacy Jellen, and Westlake Village’s Natasha Pospich will compete in the girls’ 18s.

Camarillo brothers Mike and Bob Bryan will compete in the boys’ 14s. Camarillo’s Monique Allegre will be in the girls’ 14s.

USTA Volvo League update: Teams representing the Los Angeles Tennis Players Assn. are dominating the San Fernando Valley League.

The LATPA, which was organized by Mike Langyel, has clinched two titles and is nearing a third as league play concludes this weekend. LATPA has clinched the women’s and men’s 4.0 division and is in first place in the women’s 3.5.

League winners advance to the district playoffs July 13-14 in Long Beach.

“We don’t have any big names,” Langyel said. “We’re just a bunch of working people who are looking for one last chance at glory.”

Other first-place teams in the Valley include Tug’s Topspins (men’s 3.5) and a 5.0 women’s team led by Marla Torre. In the 4.5 men, Porter Valley Country Club and Warner Center Racquet Club are tied for first place.

Cabrillo championship: Four players earned two titles in the 19th Cabrillo Racquet Club championships last weekend.

Molly White of Camarillo won the women’s A singles and teamed with Camarillo’s Shelley Brandt to win the women’s A doubles. Camarillo’s Rita Armes won the women’s B-plus singles and teamed with Camarillo’s Pam Frand to win the women’s B-plus doubles. Mark Sauer of Somis won the men’s B singles and teamed with Ventura’s Will Callaghan to win the men’s B doubles. Oxnard’s Kathy Lane won the women’s C singles and combined with Ventura’s Darleen Craig to win the women’s C doubles.

Malibu’s Julien Heine won the men’s A singles, Camarillo’s Robert Ouwendikk won the men’s 35 singles, Ventura’s Tom Kong won the men’s 55 singles, Camarillo’s Tom Coulter won the men’s B-plus singles, and Camarillo’s Ralph Isabelle won the men’s C singles.

Port Hueneme’s Gary Cuoco and Ventura’s Randy Kinsling won the men’s 35 doubles, Ventura’s Steve Worthington and John Conroy won the men’s B-plus doubles, and Camarillo’s Doug Rosecrans and Westlake Village’s Carl Morsa won the men’s C doubles.

Junior tournament: The Westlake Village Racquet Club is playing host to the fifth Lene Wegner Memorial Junior Satellite Tennis tournament July 1-3. Wagner, who died of cancer in 1985, was a popular figure involved with Junior Team Tennis and the Ventura County Junior Tennis Assn.

The tournament is open to any junior who did not turn 18 before Jan. 1. The deadline for entering is Sunday. Divisions include boys’ and girls’ 18s, 16s, 14s, 12s and 10s.

Proceeds go to the American Cancer Society of Ventura, in memory of Wagner.

Information: (818) 889-2700.

Quite a forehand: On May 21, the Chatsworth High tennis team came to the rescue of a female student who was attacked by a man near the school’s tennis courts. After a lengthy chase, several Chatsworth players struck the man with tennis rackets and detained him until police arrived. “That’s what I call teamwork,” Coach Joe Santellano said.

Wednesday, Thomas Lynn Wolff, a transient who recently had been released from prison for rape, was sentenced to seven years in prison by San Fernando Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen. Wolff, 29, pleaded guilty to two charges of assault with intent to rape involving incidents May 20 and May 21 at the high school.

International flavor: The 47th Ventura junior sanctioned tournament, which will be held July 5-7, will include 17 players from Australia and one each from Sweden and France. Ten players from Las Vegas and three from Tijuana also will compete in the event, which will include boys’ and girls’ age 12-18 divisions and will be held at Pierpont Racquet Club in Ventura.

The tournament will also include Ventura’s Mike Marquez, 9, who is ranked No. 2 in Southern California boys’ 10s but will compete in the boys’ 12s.

Holding court: The lawsuit between Helen Kall of Reseda and Ron McCabe of the Southern California Tennis Club in Studio City will be taped for the “People’s Court” on Wednesday and will be broadcast on television at a later date. Kall, a 69-year-old player from Reseda, is suing McCabe, the founder and director of the SCTC, because she feels McCabe humiliated her when he issued her a penalty warning for being late at an SCTC tournament in April in Van Nuys.

Kall wants the $75 club fee refunded and McCabe refuses.

Add McCabe: McCabe, a former actor, will sing the national anthem at the opening ceremonies for the U.S. Olympic Festival on July 13 and the Volvo tennis championships in Los Angeles on July 27.

McCabe also will sing the national anthem before the finals of the U.S. Olympic Festival.