Mater Dei Tennis Team Will Have Its Hands Full

Mater Dei, Laguna Hills and Laguna Beach will try to repeat as Southern Section girls’ tennis champions and Newport Harbor will aim for its first title this morning at the Claremont Club.

Fourth-seeded Mater Dei (18-2), which upset top-seeded Woodbridge, 10-8, in Thursday’s semifinals, will meet second-seeded Troy (20-2) at 9:30 a.m. for the Division II title. Last year, the Monarchs defeated Santa Maria Righetti, 15-3, in the final. But Troy, which lost only to Dana Hills and Capistrano Valley, is expected to give Mater Dei a tough time.

Mater Dei, which lost to Woodbridge and defending Division I champion Palos Verdes Peninsula, was expecting to be seeded second. But somehow the Monarchs were seeded below Beverly Hills and Troy.

“We didn’t have anything to do with the seedings,” Troy Coach Donna Judd said. “We played as well as we could against University and Beverly Hills in the quarterfinals and semifinals and I’m proud of my players.”

Mater Dei defeated an undefeated and unseeded Troy team, 12-6, in last year’s semifinals.

“I think we were just so thrilled to get to the semis,” Judd said. “I think our mental attitude is better this year.”

Mater Dei is led by senior Melissa Esmero, who dropped her first set of the year to Susanna Lingman in the semifinals.

“We can’t take Esmero,” Judd said. “But after that, we’re in the game.”

Laguna Hills and Laguna Beach will face the same teams they beat in last year’s Division III and Division V finals, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake and Carpinteria Cate. Laguna Hills (13-6), which upset top-seeded Palm Desert, 10-8, in the semifinals, will meet second-seeded Harvard-Westlake (18-2) at 10:30 a.m. Last year, the Hawks beat Harvard-Westlake, 74-68, on games.

Top-seeded Laguna Beach (13-8) will try to win its fifth section title of the 1990s at 12:30 p.m. It won three consecutive Division II titles from 1993 to 1995. Laguna Beach sophomore Ashley Maddocks, the Artists’ No. 1 singles player, has told her coach, Michelle Foster, that today will be her last high school team match. She plans to attend a tennis academy in Florida next year.

“I want it more this year because it’s my last year,” Maddocks said.

Second-seeded Newport Harbor (19-1) has reached the Division I finals twice in the last six years, but both times it has been trounced by Peninsula, today’s opponent at 9 a.m. Peninsula (24-0) has won eight of the last nine Division I titles. In the 1993 final, the Sailors lost, 15-3. In 1996, they lost, 13-5. Earlier this season, Newport Harbor won seven of nine singles sets against Peninsula but failed to win a doubles set.

Senior Kristen Case, who won a set playing singles against Peninsula earlier this season, is unbeaten in 15 sets since she teamed with Jenny Meyer at No. 1 doubles.

Natalie Braverman, the Sailors’ No. 1 singles player, realizes she will be counted on to sweep her three sets.

“There’s always pressure, but I’m really feeling it now because it’s the CIF finals,” Braverman said. “But I also know I have a good team to fall back on if I don’t win all three.”

STATE VOLLEYBALL PAIRINGS

Newport Harbor, the defending Division I state champion, is seeded No. 1 in Southern California Division I for the girls’ volleyball state tournament, which begins Tuesday.

Santa Margarita is top-seeded in Southern California Division II and will host Bakersfield Highland. Newport Harbor will host Poway. All matches are at 7 p.m.

Mater Dei, which lost to Santa Barbara San Marcos in the Southern Section Division I-A final Saturday, plays a Division I first-round match at Del Mar Torrey Pines.

Although Corona del Mar lost in the semifinals of the Southern Section Division III-AA playoffs, the Sea Kings are still seeded third in Division III and play at University of San Diego High.

Calvary Chapel and Laguna Beach are in the Division IV field and St. Margaret’s is in Division V.

WATER POLO FINALS SET

Orange County teams will play Wednesday in the second of two days of Southern Section water polo championship games scheduled at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

In the Division I final, third-seeded El Toro will play top-seeded Long Beach Wilson at 7:30 p.m. In Division II, top-seeded Servite plays second-seeded Corona del Mar at 3:30 p.m.

SOFTBALL

Whittier Christian’s Gary Guy has asked to be reassigned from his position as varsity softball coach to a lower-level coaching job, citing personal reasons, Athletic Director Carl Martinez said.

Staff writers Erik Hamilton and Michael Itagaki contributed to this story.