No Stopping Woodbridge Twosome

Newport Harbor’s Audra Adams and Kristen Case needed something to stop the Woodbridge steamroller--a timeout, a rain delay, something. But there was no stopping Woodbridge’s Adriana Hockicko and Danielle Hustedt. The Warriors’ second-seeded doubles team needed only 43 minutes and 12 games to win the Southern Section individual doubles title Friday at the Racquet Club of Irvine.

The 6-0, 6-0 victory was the second in two days for Hockicko and Hustedt and it gave Woodbridge its first girls’ tennis individual title. Just three weeks ago, Hockicko and Hustedt lost in straight sets to Case and Adams in the Sea View League finals.

“I thought they were going to come back,” Hockicko said. “I thought, ‘This can’t be.’ It’s hard to believe.”

But Hockicko and Hustedt’s near-perfect play made it believable. The Woodbridge twosome made only a handful of errors in playing crisp, aggressive doubles.

Adams and Case were coming off a draining three-set victory over Palos Verdes Peninsula’s Caitlin Blashaw and Christie Tjong in the semifinals. Blashaw and Tjong fought off four match points before falling, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Hockicko and Hustedt also had a tough semifinal, outlasting third-seeded Amy Tranckino and Kate Romm of Dana Hills, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Hockicko and Hustedt came out sharper and more focused as they easily won the first three games. The looser Hockicko and Hustedt played, the tighter Adams and Case became. Easy volleys became adventures for Adams and Case and difficult lobs were routine for Hockicko and Hustedt. After 23 minutes, the first set was over.

Adams and Case had a few chances in the second set to stop the bleeding, but they didn’t take advantage. Adams had two game points on her serve in the second game and Hockicko was facing three break points in the third game. Hustedt’s sharp volleys and Hockicko’s well-placed serves brought it back to deuce. Then Hustedt hit a forehand volley winner and Adams netted a backhand volley, and that was pretty much it.

“We were just telling ourselves to stay up,” said Hustedt, a senior. “They’re a really peppy team so we wanted to keep them down.”

Hockicko, a junior, said she was relieved to finally win a final after losing the individual final to Newport Harbor and the Division I team final to Palos Verdes Peninsula.

“I was tired of losing finals,” Hockicko said. “It was getting depressing.”

In singles play, Mater Dei’s Melissa Esmero lost to San Marino’s Luana Magnani, 6-3, 6-4, in the semifinals.

“I gave it everything I had,” Esmero said. “It just wasn’t enough. Everything was kind of off today. It’s hard to win when you’re not playing your best. I’ll just have to work harder. I’ll be back.”

Magnani lost to top-seeded Tiffany Brymer of Oxnard Rio Mesa in the finals, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.