Peninsula Beats Woodbridge; Corona del Mar Awaits in Final

Woodbridge was unable to derail six-time defending champion Palos Verdes Peninsula and the Panthers moved one step closer to another Southern Section Division I girls’ tennis title with an 11-7 semifinal victory Thursday at Peninsula.

Peninsula (22-2) will face top-seeded Corona del Mar in Monday’s championship at the Claremont Club.

It was the third-seeded Warriors’ second loss to the Panthers this season--both times Woodbridge was missing a key player. Earlier this season in a 10-8 loss, the Warriors were without doubles’ player Adriana Hockicko. In Thursday’s semifinal, Natalie Mitton, another top doubles player, didn’t play because of a severe cut on her right hand.

Even with Mitton, the Warriors would have faced a tough challenge.

“We knew we had to get seven singles,” Woodbridge Coach Joan Willett said. “That was our goal.”

And it was a goal the Warriors, the Division III defending champions, just missed, winning six of nine in singles and taking only one set in doubles.

After the first round, the score was tied, 3-3, and even on games, 25-25. But the Panthers pulled ahead, 7-5, at the end of two.

“Peninsula just had some excellent doubles play,” Willett said. “Especially their No. 2 team. They played really well.”

Peninsula’s No. 2 team of Cheyne Ursich and Caitlin Blashaw not only swept, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1, but picked up a key match, defeating Woodbridge’s No. 1 Hockicko and Michelle Stiefel, 6-2, in the second round, tying the score at 5-5.