SOUTHERN SECTION GIRLS’ TENNIS PLAYOFF ROUNDUP : El Dorado Topples Top-Seeded Hemet

El Dorado girls’ tennis coach John Cyrus used football to motivate his team in its upset of No. 1-seeded Hemet Thursday in the Southern Section Division III semifinals.

The match ended in a 9-9 tie, but the Golden Hawks, who lost in last year’s semifinals to North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, won on games, 82-75.

Cyrus, a former football coach, gave a brief speech to the girls before they took the courts and used the Golden Hawks football disqualification from the Southern Section playoffs, for using an ineligible player, as motivation.

“Our football team . . . overcame a lot of things this season and they had it all taken away,” Cyrus told his team. “It’s not fair. So let’s do this for the football team.”

The match came down to the final two sets, with the scored tied, 8-8, and El Dorado ahead in games 71-66.

El Dorado’s Linda Surapruik rallied in her final set against Jennifer Barnes, winning four consecutive games for a 6-3 victory that gave the Golden Hawks a 9-8 lead.

El Dorado’s No. 1 doubles team of Susan Surapruik and Brittany McMillan forced Hemet’s Kristen Barnes and Ellen Cheeseman to a tiebreaker, where Barnes and Cheeseman were able to get the victory for the Bulldogs (20-3), but Surapruik and McMillan gave the Golden Hawks the games needed to win the match.

Surapruik and McMillan gave the Golden Hawks (21-5) two of their three victories in doubles with scores of 6-3, 6-2, 6-7.

In singles, Michelle Weisz easily swept her sets, 6-2, 6-0, 6-1, and Linda Surapruik also swept, 7-5, 6-1, 6-3, for El Dorado.

El Dorado will face Pasadena Poly in the Southern Section final at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Claremont Tennis Club.