COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : There’s No Stopping El Camino in Tennis

Most of the South Coast Conference women’s tennis teams probably welcomed this week’s spring break. All of the teams have taken a beating from El Camino College, and time to regroup and search for a new strategy couldn’t hurt.

The Warriors have won 22 consecutive league matches dating to 1992. They have already clinched the SCC title with a 10-0 record and are 12-2 overall. The closest El Camino came to losing a league match was a 5-4 victory over Cerritos on March 9.

When the teams met again on April 1, El Camino won, 7-2. No other SCC team has scored more than a point against the Warriors.

“I really want them to be challenged, but the best practice they’re getting right now is during practice,” said Warrior Coach Carol Dennis, in her 13th season at the school. “We have the best skills right there.”

El Camino is ranked seventh in the state and the Warriors’ top singles player, Debbie Yoo, is ranked eighth in California. Yoo, a West Torrance High graduate, has an 11-1 record. Her only loss was against Grossmont College’s Regina Abendneroth, the state’s top-ranked player, on Feb. 9.

Yoo also has a 9-1 doubles record with partner Lara Ward, a South Torrance graduate who plays No. 2 singles. Yoo and Ward are ranked seventh in the state in doubles.

Jody Dye of Carson High plays No. 3 singles, Darlee Folk is No. 4, Kris Ann Yamamoto of Gardena is No. 5 and Gay Amojedo of Narbonne is No. 6. Dye and Yamamoform the No. 2 doubles team and Folk and Amojedo play No. 3 doubles.

“We knew it would be a good year because we had a lot of good players coming back,” Dennis said. “We have four of our top six from last season. . . . We also have real good nerves. They don’t get scared or nervous.”

The Warriors will finish league play in the next two weeks with matches against Harbor College and Pasadena City College. On April 22, El Camino will play in the Ojai tournament as a tuneup for the league championships a week later at Cerritos College.

The Southern California Regionals will be in Bakersfield and the state tournament at DeAnza College in Cupertino. Dennis says this year’s team is not as strong as the 1992 squad, but is believes the Warriors will make a strong showing in postseason play.

Last year, the Warriors lost to Grossmont in the finals of the Southern California Regionals and finished second in the state.

“I continually remind them to do a reality check,” Dennis said. “There are tough teams out there. They know they’re doing well right now, but the competition is going to get better.”

El Camino’s losses were against Orange Coast College early in the season and Riverside City College on Monday. The Warriors were hurting against Riverside because Yoo and Ward didn’t play. Yoo had gone to Mexico over the weekend and returned sick, Dennis said.

Ward didn’t play because she has mononucleosis.

Dennis said several four-year colleges have shown interest in Yoo, but she must earn her AA degree to be academically eligible to play at a Division I school. She is on schedule to obtain the degree in December.

UC Irvine, Nevada and Sacramento State are among the schools that have recruited Yoo.

This month’s issue of Volleyball Monthly magazine says the Loyola Marymount women had the biggest recruiting coup of any Division I school. Fourth-year Coach Steve Stratos signed three of the magazine’s fabulous 50 freshman; Kim Blankinship, Suzanne Radcliffe and Kathleen Bunce.

Blankinship, a 5-foot-8 outside hitter, was the Southern Section Division III player of the year at Torrance last season. She led the Tartars to the Division III title.

Radcliffe, a 5-11 setter-outside hitter, also played at Torrance.

Bunce was the Division V player of the year at Capistrano Valley Christian. A 6-foot outside hitter, Bunce led her team to the Division V title.

Loyola also signed 6-2 middle blocker Tate Medley of Mira Costa.

The Cal State Dominguez Hills softball team is struggling in California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play, but senior first baseman Melissa Punch continues to shine.

Punch, a graduate of Culver City High, had a 13-game hitting streak ended last week against Chapman. The streak is the second-longest in Dominguez Hills history and the 10th-longest in NCAA Division II.

She had a school-record 21-game hitting streak as a sophomore in 1991. That streak ranks fourth in Division II.

Punch leads the Toros with a .463 batting average. She has a team-high 25 hits, 13 runs batted in and five doubles.

The Toros are 14-11-1 and 5-7 in CCAA play.

Notes

The El Camino women’s swimming team is second in the seven-member South Coast Conference with a 3-1 record. Toro men’s sophomore swimmer Tomas Salcedo qualified for the state meet in the 100 breast stroke with a time of 59.8 seconds last month at Cuesta. . . . Harbor freshmen pitchers Javier Mejia and Mike Miller each have a 4-0 record entering this weekend’s Hancock tournament. Harbor sophomore left-hander Marco Martinez, a former Carson player, has the lowest earned-run average (1.82) in the SCC.