SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION II TENNIS : Depth, Youth Spark Laguna Beach

Bob Watson looked like a proud father Tuesday.

Watson, coach of the Laguna Beach girls’ tennis team, bragged to anybody who would listen after his Artists completed a surprising season by defeating Arcadia, 12-6, to win the Southern Section Division II title at the Claremont Tennis Club.

It was the first section title in girls’ tennis since 1981 for Laguna Beach, which had only one senior on the court.

“The kids are getting so good (so much) younger these days,” Watson said. “The strength of our team this year is that we were deep. It’s been a real good year.”

For most of the season, the Artists (23-1) have been led by their freshmen singles trio of Michelle Bray, Amanda Hastings-Phillips and Lindsay Weiss. But Arcadia’s Pam Trump swept her three singles matches, putting pressure on the Artists’ three doubles teams. They came through, taking seven of nine matches from Arcadia (18-1).

One of the Artists’ doubles teams that swept its sets was composed of freshman Sarah Cohen and senior Erinn O’Connor.

“She’s like our big sister. She’s our leader,” Cohen said of O’Connor. “She really held the team together.”

O’Connor said playing with this year’s Artists is something she’ll never forget.

“I think playing with the kids--I mean young adults--has given me a new perspective. But right now, winning it hasn’t hit us.”

Losing the title match, though, hit Arcadia right away.

“We thought we had a good chance of winning,” Trump said. “We came in maybe too overconfident. But we did well. We have never made it past the second round before.”

Laguna Beach was anything but overconfident.

“We knew winning was a possibility,” Bray said. “Now that we did it, it’s like everybody is in shock.”