Villa Park Edges Laguna Beach by One Game

Laguna Beach seniors Michelle Bray, Lindsay Weiss and Sarah Cohen won three Southern Section girls’ tennis titles together. Tuesday, they lost a title together.

After coming up big so many times through the years, Bray, Weiss and Cohen all wilted at once against Villa Park in the Division II final at the Claremont Club. The top-seeded Artists needed only one set from one of their seniors in the last round. But Bray lost, 6-0, then Weiss lost, 6-1, and finally Cohen and her doubles partner Vanessa Zajfen fell, 6-2.

The teams were tied, 9-9, and after several tense moments of adding up the final game score, Laguna Beach fell too--by one game, 72-71. While Villa Park celebrated its first girls’ tennis championship, Weiss couldn’t stop shaking her head.

“I’m disappointed,” she said. “Knowing it’s my senior year and it’s nice to go out a winner. You can’t be ashamed of losing by one game. But I love my team. Everyone tried their hardest and that’s all you can ask”

In other finals Tuesday, Palos Verdes Peninsula defeated Santa Barbara, 14-4, in Division I; Placentia El Dorado defeated Hemet, 9-9 and 87-74 on games in Division III; Brentwood defeated Santa Ynez, 11-7, in Division IV and Thousand Oaks La Reina defeated Rim of the World, 12-6, in Division V.