TENNIS PRELIMINARIES : Undefeated Juniors Eye a Showdown

Mater Dei’s Laura Ruben and Valencia’s Jenny Gonzalez cruised through two rounds of the Southern Section girls’ individual tennis championships Saturday, then talked about the possibility of meeting each other next week.

“I want to play Ruben,” Gonzalez said after beating Los Alamitos’ Melissa Rosenthal and Dana Hills’ Elizabeth Stevens, 6-2, 6-0, and, 6-0, 6-1. “I want to see how good she is.”

Ruben, who beat Marina’s Holly Meyers, 6-2, 6-1, and Corona del Mar’s Marcie Asch, 6-1, 6-1, was equally curious.

“I’m interested to play Gonzalez,” she said. “I haven’t seen her play, but I’ve been reading about her.”

Ruben and Gonzalez, both juniors, have been in the headlines all season, during which they were the only two undefeated Orange County players. They also have something else in common--both sat out high school play last year.

Ruben transferred from Visalia before last season but chose not to play on the team. Gonzalez transferred to Valencia from Paraguay before the 1992 school year but couldn’t play because of CIF transfer rules.

Ruben and Gonzalez won’t play again until Dec. 2 at 11 a.m. The 16 singles players and doubles teams who advanced from Saturday’s four sectionals around Southern California will be reseeded and continue play at the Irvine Racquet Club.

Villa Park freshman Faye DeVera and El Modena junior Brandi Freudenberg easily advanced into the round of 16. DeVera, the Century League singles champion, defeated Laguna Beach’s Lindsay Weiss, 6-2, 6-4, and Sunny Hills’ Dana Rudolph, 6-0, 6-3.

Rudolph upset Irvine freshman Sarah Denson, one of the six seeded players, 6-4, 6-7, 6-0. Rudolph beat Denson, DeVera’s close friend and doubles partner, by changing speeds.

“I just blocked out what happened to Sarah,” DeVera said. “I can wait for the ball. Lobs don’t bother me.”

Freudenberg was bothered slightly by a strained quadriceps, but not enough to throw her game off. She disposed of Brea-Olinda’s Rachel Buenviaje, 6-2, 6-3, and Laguna Beach’s Michelle Bray, 6-2, 6-1.

“I’ve been playing really tough,” Freudenberg said. “This is a good tune-up for the Indoors. This tournament came at a great time.”

Freudenberg travels to Houston on Wednesday to play in the girls’ 16s at the USTA National Indoors. Ruben leaves Monday for Smithfield, Mich., and the girls’ 18s Indoors.

In doubles play, Edison’s Kelly Foster and Tami Demaree advanced to the round of 16 along with Newport Harbor’s Sarah Hawkins and Mara Colaizzi, El Modena’s Amy Medlin and Holli Freudenberg and El Toro’s Janaye Johnson and Kate Kunath. The last three teams are made up of singles players who chose to play doubles for the section individual tournament.