Corona del Mar Climbs the Summit

Palos Verdes Peninsula’s six-year stranglehold on the Southern Section Division I girls’ tennis title is over.

It ended quietly and not unexpectedly Monday with an 11-7 loss to Corona del Mar at the Claremont Club. Peninsula had lost to top-seeded Corona del Mar during the season by the same score.

“We knew one year it was going to end,” Peninsula sophomore Christie Tjong said.

Singles had been Peninsula’s strength for most of its dynasty, but it was the Panthers’ weakness Monday as Corona del Mar took eight of nine singles sets.

The longest, but maybe the most important singles victory came in the first round, when Corona del Mar’s No. 2 player, Ruchika Budhraja, outlasted Elizabeth Lee, 6-4. The set took 2 1/2 hours and featured no spectacular points and very little movement or aggression by either player.

The set’s length had United States Tennis Assn. officials, who were serving as referees, bewildered. One point lasted 12 minutes and another 10. By the time Lee’s backhand lob sailed long and ended the set, the doubles players were halfway into their third round of play.

More memorable for the Sea Kings (22-1) is the fact that they won their first section girls’ tennis title in eight years and that they stopped a dynasty in doing so. Corona del Mar’s Caylan Leslie said she sensed Peninsula’s players put a lot of pressure on themselves.

“I think they were a little concerned because we beat them before,” Leslie said. “They knew we were good. They had so many titles to defend. They had everything to lose and we had everything to gain.”

Leslie was Corona del Mar’s best singles player during the regular season, but she played doubles throughout the playoffs because she was battling a lingering cold and flu.

Leslie and partner Robyn Coleman picked up an important set in the third round by beating Peninsula’s No. 1 team of Tjong and Emily Cohen, 6-2. Corona del Mar’s two other doubles points came from Courtney Tenerelli and Jenny Meyer.

Corona del Mar’s Nina Vaughan and her sister, Nadia, swept their three sets and lost only five games each.

“I was nervous as heck about the doubles,” Corona del Mar Coach Tim Mang said. “They have three excellent teams and they proved it.”

But they didn’t prove enough for Peninsula Coach Tom Cox.

“We didn’t come through in doubles,” Cox said. “If we played the way we did against Woodbridge [in the semifinals], we could have beaten them. But Corona’s tough. They deserved to win.”