SOUTHERN SECTION GIRLS’ TENNIS PLAYOFFS : Top-Seeded Los Alamitos Beats Mater Dei in Semifinals

Depth and experience paid off for the Los Alamitos girls’ tennis team Thursday as the No. 1-seeded Griffins defeated fourth-seeded Mater Dei, 11-7, in a Southern Section Division 2-A semifinal match at the Costa Mesa Tennis Club to reach the championship match for the second consecutive year.

Los Alamitos (22-0), the Empire League champion, meets Angelus League champion and No. 2-seeded Rosary (15-3-1) in the finals Tuesday at the Claremont Tennis Club in Claremont. Mater Dei, which had lost to Los Alamitos on games (74-67 after a 9-9 tie) in a nonleague match this year, finished 14-4.

The Griffins pulled off the victory by nearly sweeping their sets (11 out of 12) against Mater Dei’s Nos. 2 and 3 singles and doubles teams, including two by 7-5 and 7-6 scores.

“This year we’re winning the 7-5s and 7-6s,” Los Alamitos Coach Debbie Fleming said. Last year, she said, the team had trouble winning those close sets.

Mater Dei kept the match close on the fine play of its No. 1 singles, Erika Asmuss, and No. 1 doubles, Trisha Abe and Kim Conter.

Asmuss won her three sets each at 6-0 and Abe-Conter won theirs, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2. But the Monarchs couldn’t do much else.

Leading the Griffins were their No. 1 doubles team of Erica Ladney and Meredith Volt, who won two sets easily at 6-1, 6-1, and No. 1 singles Susan Huberman, who took two of her three sets, 6-1 and 6-3.