HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS : Miringoff Helps Torrey Pines Sweep

The CIF San Diego Section individual tennis title seemed like a pretty insignificant thing to Torrey Pines sophomore Betsy Miringoff a couple years ago. But when Miringoff realized she could make history by winning it, her perspective changed.

That added incentive and an aggressive serve-and-volley game helped Miringoff to a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory Friday over University of San Diego High School freshman Marisa Velasco at Bishop’s School.

Miringoff’s victory gave Torrey Pines, which had won five girls’ team championships, its first girls’ singles title. The Torrey Pines doubles team of Erin Bohrnstedt and Allison McNellis defeated teammates Kristen and Kelly McCracken, 6-1, 6-2, to give Torrey Pines a sweep of Section titles.

“In the juniors, you want to win for yourself,” Miringoff said. “This tournament, I wanted to win for the school.

“I didn’t think the CIF was that big a deal before I got to high school. But now I think it’s a big deal. I realize now it’s a pretty prestigious tournament.”

Miringoff, seeded fifth, knocked off sixth-seeded Vanessa Rooks of Monte Vista in the semifinals and fourth-seeded Sylvia Rius of Fallbrook in the quarterfinals Thursday. Velasco, seeded third, defeated top-seeded Nikki Willette of Serra in the semifinals.

But Velasco acknowledged she was not the same player.

“I was nervous,” Velasco said. “That’s why I double-faulted a lot.”

Velasco had six double faults and missed several easy volleys on crucial points.

Neither player served particularly well. There were eight breaks of serve in the first set. But Miringoff came through with big serves and deep volleys in the tiebreaker. She went up 5-1 and held on to win, 7-4.

She immediately took the first three games of the second set and cruised from there.

Bohrnstedt and McNellis, who disposed of the McCracken twins in less than an hour, said they had no problems playing their teammates in the finals.

“I don’t think you play the person,” Bohrnstedt said. “You go out and play the ball.”

Bohrnstedt and McNellis were taken to three sets by the McCrackens in the Palomar League finals, but Friday’s match was never close.

“We played more percentage tennis than they did,” Bohrnstedt said. “We didn’t go for big shots that much.”