PREP ROUNDUP : Capistrano Valley Girls Lose in Tennis

No one ever said three against one was fair.

Technically, the Capistrano Valley girls’ tennis team played only Palos Verdes Peninsula Wednesday in a nonleague match featuring two of the top teams in the Southern Section. Peninsula, however, is a new school this year with the combined student bodies of recently closed Palos Verdes, Miraleste and Rolling Hills high schools.

All of those schools had traditionally strong girls’ tennis programs, and Peninsula displayed the advantage of drawing players from that trio with a 15-3 victory in Mission Viejo.

“Peninsula could probably compete with some pretty good college teams,” said Capistrano Valley Coach Kerry Leander, whose Cougars entered the match ranked No. 1 in Orange County and No. 3 in Division 4-A.

Peninsula, top-ranked in 4-A, finished with a 100-35 games advantage, including a 54-9 margin in doubles, in which the Panthers won all nine sets.

The Cougars were without singles standout Page Bartelt, who had a tonsillectomy Tuesday that will keep her sidelined two weeks.