Calabasas Falls Hard in Final

Frayla Schoenfeld of Calabasas High fell on the court during the last set of her doubles match after twisting her left knee.

She quickly recovered to win the next point, and Schoenfeld and partner Kathy Habuki went on to win the set, 7-5, for their only victory after two losses.

But there was no getting off the mat by top-seeded Calabasas, which fell to second-seeded San Marino, 12-6, in the Southern Section Division IV final Monday at the Claremont Club.

“They played better. They deserved to win,” said Shervin Saedinia, Calabasas’ No. 1 player.

“You’ve got to give them credit. I thought we would have a really good chance to win. But the most important thing is that we tried our best. It was just one of those days for us.”

San Marino (22-1-1) staked its claim to the championship in the second round of round-robin competition, when the Titans won all six sets to break a 3-3 deadlock. The title was the Titans’ first since 1988, but their seventh in 10 final appearances.

Calabasas (21-1-1) won only two of nine singles sets, and even its doubles teams had to contend with a San Marino singles player thrust into a critical new role.

Lindsey Irons-Kilmer, who usually plays No. 2 singles for the Titans, was inserted at No. 2 doubles with Diana Lee, and the pair won three sets.

Included in the sweep were victories over Schoenfeld and Habuki, who entered the match with a 64-2 record, and over Andrea Leewong and Vanessa Everly. The 6-4 victory over Leewong and Everly marked the only defeat this season for Leewong, who entered the match with a 66-0 record with three different partners.

“They stacked their lineup, and it really benefited them,” said Calabasas’ Brittany Bierman, who won the Frontier League doubles title with Leewong but played with Marisa Kagan at No. 1 doubles against San Marino.

Even more damaging to the Coyotes was the fact that the Titans’ singles lineup was seemingly unaffected by Irons-Kilmer’s move to doubles.

San Marino No. 2 player Andrea Young and No. 3 Wendy Yang each won two of three sets. Those victories went nicely with a sweep by No. 1 player Luana Magnani, seeded second by the U.S. Tennis Assn. in the girls’ 16-and-under division in Southern California and ranked 11th nationally in the division.

Magnani and Saedinia (60-3), who was blanked by Magnani, 6-0, will play in the U.S. National Indoor Championships beginning today in Detroit.