PREP TENNIS / GIRLS’ INDIVIDUAL SECTIONALS : DeVera, 2 Others See Clear to Next Round

It was hard to see who was playing well through the fog at the Huntington Beach High courts Saturday, but the top four seeded singles players easily advanced in the girls’ individual sectionals.

Villa Park’s Faye DeVera, Corona del Mar’s Nina Vaughan, Woodbridge’s Natalie Exon and Temecula Valley’s Sanaz Ghazal won in straight sets to reach next week’s round of 16 at Lindborg Racquet Club.

“It was getting to where you couldn’t see the other person across the court,” DeVera said.

But DeVera saw enough of the ball to defeat Debbie Jethva of Western and Gina Alvarado of Valley View.

“The ball seemed heavy,” said DeVera, who has not lost a set all year. “If I hit it hard, it wasn’t going very fast so I had to hit a lot more balls than I usually do.”

Play was delayed more than two hours because of wet courts and some matches had to be moved to Edison High. Vaughan also made short work of her two opponents, Melissa Rosenthal of Los Alamitos and Kristen Sakamoto of Katella.

Vaughan, who reached the individual quarterfinals last year as a freshman, said she expects more of herself this year.

“I’m playing better now,” she said. “I’m a little more comfortable at the net this year, even though I still need to be pushed sometimes.”

Vaughan said she has a couple opponents on her mind next week.

“I’d like to play Faye or Kara Warkentin [of Santa Barbara San Marcos],” she said. “I haven’t played Faye in three years and Kara knocked me out last year.”

DeVera said she isn’t looking to play anyone in particular.

“I’m just looking to perform well,” she said.

Exon defeated Alison Arvizu of Huntington Beach to advance to the round of 16 and Ghazal beat Michelle Bray of Laguna Beach.

The teams advancing in doubles play were Katie Tierney and Michele Johnson of Dana Hills, Amy Medlin and Holli Freudenberg of El Modena, Alissa Scott and Megan Wachtler of Corona del Mar and Vanessa Godbey and Katie Canright of Newport Harbor.

The round of 16 and quarterfinals will be played Nov. 30 and the semifinals and finals are set for Dec. 1.