Woodbridge Drops Villa Park in Tennis

The Woodbridge girls’ tennis team chose to play in the Southern Section’s Division III playoffs rather than move up to Division II or I. Nonetheless, the Warriors are doing their best to show people what would have happened had they chosen to play up a division or two.

Monday in Irvine, the Warriors knocked off defending Division II champion Villa Park, 12-6. Woodbridge (13-1), ranked second in Orange County and first in Division III, already has knocked off Corona del Mar, the top Division I team, and Dana Hills, the top-ranked team in Division II.

Its only loss was 10-8 to Newport Harbor, ranked second in Division I and a winner over six-time defending champion Palos Verdes Peninsula this season. Last Monday, the Warriors routed El Dorado, one of the top Division III teams.

The Warriors’ victory over fourth-ranked Villa Park was led by their No. 1 singles player, Natalie Exon, who swept her sets, 7-5, 6-3, 6-1. The 7-5 victory came over Faye DeVera, whom Exon had never beaten. DeVera, who recently committed to Arizona State, hadn’t lost a set this season.

“That was a good win,” Exon said. “But it’s still only one set.”

DeVera fell behind, 5-2, tied it at five games and before dropping the last two games.

“It was one of those days where you miss everything by this much,” DeVera said. “I thought I played pretty well. I just wanted to bring my lines in more. Maybe I should have just hit up the middle.”

Exon was happy with her day but wasn’t happy about her teammates opting out of the Division I playoffs. Woodbridge voted as a team to stay in Division III.

“I’m bummed that we’re not in Division I because I think we could have won it,” she said. “I think we can compete with the best teams in Southern California. In Division III, I don’t think we’ll play any of the top teams in Southern California. I’m not even sure we would have in Division II.”

Exon will not get a chance to play DeVera again this year. The two might have met in the Southern Section individual singes tournament, but DeVera has decided to play doubles with her teammate, Katey Becker. She is also looking forward to playing two international tournaments in December, the same month as the section tournament.

“This is a team sport,” DeVera said. “It’s lonely being out there by myself. It’ll be a lot more fun to play together. We’ve become really good friends.”

In other tennis:

Corona del Mar 11, Palos Verdes Peninsula 7--Caylan Leslie and Nina and Nadia Vaughan swept in singles to lead third-ranked Corona del Mar (13-1). Leslie won, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. Nina Vaughan won 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 and Nadia Vaughan won 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. Peninsula is 11-3.

El Dorado 14, Glendora 4--Amanda Oldridge didn’t lose a game for sixth-ranked El Dorado (14-1), sweeping, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. Michelle Weisz also swept, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0.

In the Estancia water polo tournament:

Fountain Valley 14, Estancia 5--Sean Kelly scored five goals and Robbie Kaessner added three in the victory for Fountain Valley. Estancia (7-9) won an early game against Aliso Niguel’s B team, 7-5. Brad Wayman scored three goals in the victory for Estancia.

Cypress 12, Aliso Niguel 11--Erik Sandvig scored nine goals and James Hicks had 11 saves in the victory for Cypress (7-5). Cypress was down, 8-5, at the half, but scored four fourth-quarter goals. In a later game against Laguna Beach’s junior varsity, Sandvig scored eight goals in the 16-10 victory.

In nonleague water polo:

Brea Olinda 17, San Bernardino 8--Brent Reimer scored six goals and Brian Doherty and Matt Flesher each had five for ninth-ranked Brea Olinda (13-4).

Saddleback 17, Santa Ana Valley 12--Sergio Gonzalez scored nine goals and Huy Tang had seven saves in the victory for Saddleback (4-9).