Chaminade Wins Championship; Harvard-Westlake Loses in Final

It was fitting that Chaminade High’s Monica Andrews and Monica Alonso would be the doubles team that clinched the Southern Section Division IV girls’ tennis title with a 10-8 victory over San Marino on Monday at the Claremont Club.

Remembering a 10-8 loss to the Titans last month, Chaminade Coach Andy Berenson stacked the doubles with two of his top players for the final. The only team he left intact was Andrews and Alonso.

“The Monicas have won a lot of big matches for us the last two years,” Berenson said.

With No. 3-seeded Chaminade clinging to a 9-8 lead in sets, the Eagles needed a victory by Andrews and Alonso over Andria Lo and Dorothy Lee to clinch the title.

Had top-seeded San Marino won the final set, the Titans (22-2) would have won the title because they held a 69-61 advantage in games.

“We knew it was going to come down to us,” Alonso said. “I was counting the games and watching everybody as they finished. I told Monica, if we win, we win, if we lose, it’s over.”

As the crowd slowly increased as other sets were completed, Andrews and Alonso were unafraid to show their emotion, yelling excitedly after every point they won, before finishing with a 6-4 victory and being quickly surrounded by jubilant teammates.

Berenson’s stacking strategy worked perfectly and the Eagles (15-6) won all nine doubles sets. Teresa Galido, who usually plays No. 1 singles, was the only singles player to win a game.

Playing at No. 2, Galido defeated Lindsey Irons-Kilmer, 6-3, to provide a point on singles and pushed freshman Luana Magnani to a tiebreaker before losing, 7-6 (7-4).

Kinsley Carnahan, who normally plays No. 2 singles for Chaminade, teamed with Amy Biersch to win their sets, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.

Tina Kapadia was moved down to play with freshman Lindsey Weinstein and the two won their sets, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Last year, the Eagles were undefeated going into the Division final but lost to Rosary, 10-8.