PREP TENNIS : Peninsula Dominates Final, 18-0

The Peninsula High girls’ tennis team proved once again Tuesday that it is in a league of its own.

Peninsula (24-0) lost only six games in singles on its way to an 18-0 victory over Dana Hills (20-3) in the Southern Section Division I championship match at the Claremont Club.

Nicole London, Peninsula’s No. 1 singles player, who is ranked third nationally in the 18s, defeated Dana Hills opponents Anna Zaricki, 6-1; Elizabeth Stevens, 6-0, and Susie Stevens, 6-0.

Janet Lee, Peninsula’s No. 2, who also has been ranked in the top 10 in the 18s, beat all three opponents, 6-0.

Amanda Basica, the nation’s top-ranked player in the 16s, who plays No. 3 for Peninsula, defeated Zaricki, 6-2; Elizabeth Stevens, 6-2, and Susie Stevens, 6-1.

Peninsula, 48-0 over the past two seasons, has become this dominant partly because the three schools that were combined to create Peninsula all had strong tennis teams.

“The (Palos Verdes) Peninsula has several tennis clubs in the area and such good coaches at the tennis clubs, and obviously, money talks in tennis,” said Jim Hanson, Peninsula co-coach. “It’s a high-income area, so they’re able to pay for the lessons and then the girls get started at a young age.”

In other finals in the Southern Section tournament:

DIVISION II

Laguna Beach 12, Arcadia 6--Laguna Beach (24-1) lost three singles sets to Arcadia’s Pam Trump but won seven of nine doubles sets for its first championship since 1981.

Laguna Beach’s top three singles players, Michelle Bray, Amanda Hastings-Phillips and Lindsay Weiss, are freshmen.

DIVISION III

Harvard-Westlake 11, Los Alamitos 7--Harvard-Westlake (22-1) won its second consecutive title behind Lindsay Wasserman and Rumy Mehlman, who each won all three of their sets.

DIVISION IV

Pasadena Poly 10, San Luis Obispo 8--In one of the closest matches of the day, Poly won all but one singles set.

SMALL SCHOOLS

Yucaipa 11, Brentwood 9--In its first appearance in a Southern Section final, Yucaipa upset the 1991 champion Brentwood. Brenda Beyronneau, Yucaipa’s No. 1 singles player, lost a total of only six games in winning three sets.