Torrey Pines Girls Win 3-A Tennis Title Despite Strong Effort by No. 2-Seed Poway

Torrey Pines junior Erin Bohrnstedt was not trying to be disrespectful, just honest.

Bohrnstedt, the Falcons’ No. 2 singles player, was asked if the thought of losing to Poway in the girls’ team 3-A Section finals had crossed her mind.

“We were pretty confident and relaxed,” Bohrnstedt said. “I don’t know if losing ever entered into it. Maybe tying.”

The 11-7 Torrey Pines victory Saturday at Canyon Hills Racquet Club was actually closer than Bohrnstedt or her teammates expected. The Falcons had defeated Poway, 13-5 and 12-6, in Palomar League play.

“It’s been a long season,” said Torrey Pines sophomore Betsy Miringoff, who won two of three singles’ matches at No. 1. “It was hard to keep the enthusiasm up because we beat them twice already. I think they wanted it more than us. I think that’s why it was closer.”

Torrey Pines (24-0), the tournament’s top seed, also beat Poway (16-5), seeded second, in last year’s finals.

Bohrnstedt said she expects to be back in the finals next year.

“We don’t mean to be cocky,” she said. “We just have a lot of confidence in ourselves.”

Poway also figures to make a return visit to the finals. It has been there nine of the past 10 years.

The 2-A finals were also closer than expected. Top-seeded University of San Diego High had beaten San Pasqual, 14-4, during the season. But USDHS (21-2) didn’t clinch Saturday’s 10-8 victory until the final set.

“Our coach (Steve Anderson) told us San Pasqual wasn’t playing that well earlier and that it would be close,” USDHS freshman Marisa Velasco said.

It was Velasco’s 6-4 victory at No. 1 singles over San Pasqual’s No. 1 singles player, Molly Gavin, that turned out to be the difference. Velasco and Gavin were tied at two games before Velasco won three games in a row.

“I started treeing at two all,” Velasco said. “It was just blood and guts.”

Velasco went on to sweep her other two singles matches.

Gavin won her other two sets, but Christy Blount’s 6-1 victory over Erin Lowery provided the only other San Pasqual singles victory. The Eagles made it close by taking five of nine doubles sets. San Pasqual’s No. 1 singles team of Andrea Phillips and Britt Stenstrom got three of the victories.

USDHS’s team title is its first in school history. San Pasqual (23-5) lost in the finals for the second consecutive year.