SOUTHERN SECTION TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS : Orange County Players Knocked Out

IRVINE — El Modena’s Brandi Freudenberg and Newport Harbor’s Mara Colaizzi and Sarah Hawkins lost in Friday’s Southern Section individual championships at the Irvine Racquet Club. But Freudenberg came away feeling satisfied, while Colaizzi and Hawkins felt unfulfilled.

Freudenberg lost to eventual champion Amanda Augustus of Palos Verdes Peninsula, 6-3, 6-3, in the singles semifinals. Hawkins and Colaizzi were beaten by Peninsula’s Nicole London and Amber Basica in the doubles finals, 6-4, 6-3.

Freudenberg started slowly, losing the first three games and then the first set, 6-3. But the score was closer than it appeared. Two close line calls on critical points went against Freudenberg and gave Augustus game points.

The second set was going Freudenberg’s way for a while. She led, 3-1, on the strength of her ground-strokes and serving. But Augustus’ power began to wear down Freudenberg, who started making unforced errors from the baseline and lost the next five games.

“She keeps the ball so close to the baseline every shot,” Freudenberg said. “When I did come in, she blasted it by me. And if you hit it short on an approach, goodby.”

Still, Freudenberg said she wasn’t disappointed to say “goodby” in the semifinals for the second time in three years.

“I played well,” she said. “I thought I was going to win the second set. I got my shots, I just missed them.”

The defeat of Colaizzi and Hawkins had more to do with a lack of intensity and experience together than it did with missed opportunities.

“I think we should have beaten them,” Hawkins said. “We didn’t play well the last two days.”

Said Colaizzi: “They were good, but they weren’t all that great.”

Colaizzi and Hawkins, who had never played together until a month ago, had their best opportunity in the second set when they trailed, 3-2, and had two break points. But Basica won the next three points on off-speed serves and eventually closed out the game.

“She threw a lot of off-pace stuff at us, and we didn’t handle it well,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins said she and Colaizzi didn’t handle much well as a team.

“When it came time to play real well together, we couldn’t,” Hawkins said. “We didn’t know what to say to each other when we got down.”

Colaizzi agreed that communication was a problem.

“We didn’t know where each other was,” she said. “And when we didn’t talk after a crucial point, we just seemed to fall apart.”