Brea Olinda Cruises Past Canyon

Because of Brea Olinda’s strong singles players, Canyon Coach Wil Wilkens knew his girls’ tennis team needed to dominate in doubles to win the first-round Division III playoff match Friday at Brea.

But the Wildcat doubles teams proved to be almost as strong as their singles, winning five of nine sets, leading Brea to a 13-5 victory over Canyon.

The Wildcats (18-3), who advanced to the quarterfinals last season, will visit El Dorado, a 10-8 winner over Foothill, in today’s second round.

“This is a really good team we are playing,” Wilkens said during the match. “Doubles is our strength. In order for us to win, we have to get seven or eight in doubles and then hopefully one or more in singles.”

After the first round, Canyon (6-14) was down only 4-2 after Heather Hohenstein and Danielle Ayres defeated Annie James and Nancy Lee in doubles, 6-3, and Nancy Furukawa beat Katie Mayberry in singles, 6-4.

Brea increased the lead to 8-4 in the second round, again winning four of six sets. The Wildcats then quickly put the match away in the final round as Kelly Scanlan defeated Neha Zalavadia, 6-0, and juniors Angel Song and Amy Stoddard defeated Amber Harries and Nicole Sadler, 6-4, to clinch the victory with a 10-4 lead.

Brea, the Orange League champion, did as expected in singles, winning eight of nine sets, including sweeps of Canyon’s top two singles players, Jackie Munz and Zalavadia.

Sophomore Scanlan won 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. Senior Amanda Manton won, 6-2, 6-0, 7-5, and junior Mayberry finished, 6-4, 6-1, 4-6.

Hohenstein and Ayres picked up the only sweep for Canyon, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.

In other Division III first-round matches:

Laguna Hills 16, Los Amigos 2--No. 2 singles player Jessica Knitter won, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0. The fourth-seeded Hawks (21-5) host Valencia at 2 p.m. today.

Troy 16, Lakewood St. Joseph 2--Stacey Lee, Troy’s No. 1 singles player, swept, 6-1, 6-1, 6-0, for the Warriors (17-1).

Tustin 10, La Verne Bonita 8--Kristy Nguyen and Sok Kohl swept at No. 3 doubles, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, to lead Tustin (15-4). The Tillers will host Villa Park today.

Villa Park 17, Savanna 1--Villa Park (15-2) advanced to the second round behind the play of freshman Arpi Kojian, who swept in singles, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.

Valencia 11, Garden Grove 7--Beth Leverett swept in singles, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 and Cherie and Michele Angeloni won, 7-5, 6-3, 6-0, to lead Valencia (14-5). Garden Grove finishes 18-3.