SOUTHERN SECTION GIRLS’ TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS : DIVISION II : Laguna Beach Wins Third Title in Row

Top-seeded Laguna Beach won its third consecutive Southern Section Division II girls’ tennis title with a 12-6 victory over Los Alamitos Tuesday at the Claremont Club.

Griffin Coach Debbie Fleming made some roster moves and stacked her doubles teams in hopes of getting the points she needed from the teams. She paired her No. 2 singles player, sophomore Danielle Brandlin, with junior Erin White, anticipating Laguna Beach’s “awesome” singles would sweep and hoping her doubles could do the same.

Fleming predicted the match almost perfectly, except she didn’t get the sweep she needed in doubles.

Juniors Michelle Bray, Amanda Hastings-Phillips and Lindsay Weiss, who have played on all three championship teams, were outstanding in singles. They swept all nine matches, and lost only 10 games.

Weiss, fighting off leg cramps in her second match, overcame a 5-4 deficit against Los Alamitos’ top singles player, junior Melissa Rosenthal, and won the set, 7-5. Still in pain, she then came out and finished her day with a 6-0 victory over senior Gina Ronzello.

Bray was on top of her game, quickly dismissing her opponents, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1. And Hastings-Phillips used her powerful two-handed backhand to place shot after shot exactly where she wanted to defeat her opponents, 6-3, 6-0, 6-1.

“It feels great,” Hastings-Phillips said after her team’s victory. “It feels just as good the third time.”

In doubles, Fleming’s strategy almost got her the sweep she wanted, but juniors Sarah Cohen and Vanessa Zajfen came away with three victories for Laguna Beach (23-1). Down, 3-4, to the Griffins’ Alison Miller and Michelle Schneider, Cohen and Zajfen broke serve and went on to win, 6-4. They won their final two sets, 6-0, 6-4.

Los Alamitos (21-2) won the remaining six sets. The doubles team of Miller and Schneider won, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; senior Laura Springosky and junior Sonia Ralli won, 0-6, 7-6 (7-0), 6-4, and Brandlin and White won, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.

The Griffins won the title in 1991 and have made it to the finals in 1990, 1992 and 1994. They also reached the Division III semifinals last year.

The Artists’ three titles came by beating Arcadia (12-6) in 1992, Edison (11-7) in 1993 and the Griffins. Laguna Beach returns seven of nine starters next season.

“This was a really good year for us,” Artist Coach Bob Walton said. “There has been a lot of pressure on the girls with everyone saying it was a foregone conclusion that we would win again. That is a lot for high school kids to deal with. We aren’t (Palos Verdes) Peninsula. They hung in there all year long. I’m really proud of this group.”