La Reina on the Ball, Repeats Division V Title : Tennis: Regents polish off Rim of the World in section final, 12-6.

At the beginning of this season, La Reina High tennis player Vicki Hull decided to take one of the game balls from each match and write on it the final score, and the scores from her three sets at No. 1 doubles.

After the Regents defeated Rim of the World, 12-6, to repeat as Southern Section Division V champions at the Claremont club Tuesday, she took two.

“One is for the scores and one is for everyone on the team to sign,” Hull said. “This is my senior year and I want to have a memory of it.”

Even without the balls, she and the rest of her teammates should have no problems remembering this match.

The Regents (14-2) got exceptional play in singles, where No. 1 Kristen Dickey and No. 3 Kristy Bear each swept three sets. Lauren Dickey won her first two sets at No. 2 singles before falling in her final set, 6-7, (7-0 in the tiebreaker), long after the match was clinched.

In doubles, La Reina ran into some problems, namely Ali Barcus and Patricia Daisenberger, the No. 1 team for the Scots (18-5). Hull and Catherine Chien, who entered the match with a 44-1 record, were troubled by an inability to relax and failure to communicate as they lost to Barcus and Daisenberger, 2-6.

“We were thinking too much and not talking,” Chien said. “It’s like we were playing for ourselves. Between sets we talked about it and started joking.”

It worked.

The pair breezed past Hannah Childs and Angie Barnum, 6-0. They lost just three points as they defeated Stacy Boron and Christine Bruckel, 6-0, in just 15 minutes. The third set was the Regents’ 10th point and clinched the title.