GIRLS’ TENNIS PLAYOFFS : Frantz, Poway Pass Finals

Tasha Frantz was at a local high school at 7 a.m. Saturday taking a test she hopes will gain her acceptance next year into Yale. She said she didn’t think she did very well, though, because she had the San Diego Section 3-A girls’ tennis team championship on her mind.

If Frantz didn’t do well with a No. 2 pencil and a Scantron form, she did pass the test in the afternoon, winning two sets and helping top-seeded Poway score a 10-8 victory over second-seeded Bonita Vista. Poway (20-1), which lost only to La Jolla in a doubles tournament, won 20 straight with a team Coach Evi Yarnell thought had no chance to be in the finals when practice began in August. Bonita Vista finished the year 19-4.

“This championship is special because it was so unexpected,” said Yarnell, who has won four section titles and been in 10 of the last 11 finals. “I knew I had only three seniors that had any real experience, and four who started the year on the varsity last year.”

One of those was Frantz, who said she benefited from being No. 2 in the singles lineup instead of No. 1. Ella Perkin, a junior, was No. 3 instead of No. 2, and said she was also helped by being moved down in the lineup and getting what amounted to a warm-up set before playing Bonita Vista’s top two players. Between them, Frantz and Perkin won five of six sets. Frantz lost to No. 2 player Michelle Morris in the first round.

Perkin swept her three sets, including the day’s last, a 6-1 victory over Bonita Vista’s top player, Kristen Nicita, officially clinching the match. However, even had Perkin lost, Poway would have won on the tiebreaker, total games, on the strength of a strong showing in the final round by Frantz and two doubles teams, seniors Missy Dulac and Lorri Sulpizio, and sophomore Nahoko Kawakyo and freshman Cami Erickson--they won by a combined score of 18-1.