HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS : Basica Keeps Streak Going

Junior Amanda Basica became the third consecutive Palos Verdes Peninsula High player to win the girls’ Southern Section individual singles tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Santa Barbara San Marcos junior Kara Warkentin on Friday at the Lindborg Racquet Club in Huntington Beach.

Basica, the tournament’s top-seeded player, had her serve broken once in each set, but she was never pressed by the unseeded Warkentin. In the morning semifinals, Basica defeated fourth-seeded Monique Allegre of Camarillo, 6-3, 6-0, and Warkentin beat Sanaz Ghazal of Temecula Valley, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6.

Warkentin chose to try to slug it out with Basica from the baseline. It wasn’t the best of strategies against the world’s 12th-ranked player in the girls’ 18 division.

“I thought maybe she might come into the net off the deep balls she hit, but she played the same the whole match,” said Basica, who reached the section finals as a freshman.

In the doubles final, Santa Barbara junior Pilar Montgomery and freshman Sarita Yardi defeated Corona del Mar juniors Megan Wachtler and Alissa Scott, 6-3, 6-0. The third-seeded Montgomery and Yardi won the last nine games of the match over the fourth-seeded team.