It’s a Banner DAy for Area Teams in Tennis Finals

Plenty of post-match photographs were snapped of the Harvard-Westlake High girls’ tennis team, but the best shots came during the match.

The Wolverines’ singles players were nearly picture-perfect and Harvard-Westlake defeated defending champion Laguna Hills, 10-8, to win the Southern Section Division III title Monday at The Claremont Club.

“This is sweet,” first-year Coach Kelly Edwards said. “Our singles are tough, and they proved it today.”

Harvard-Westlake (19-2) surrendered only two games in sweeping nine singles sets. No. 1 player Stephanie Berg got the Wolverines off to a strong start with a 6-0 victory over No. 1 Jessica Prause, and her momentum carried over to the rest of the Harvard-Westlake squad.

Berg, a junior who has advanced to the fourth round of the Southern Section individual tournament, also defeated Emiko Miyamoto and Anna Smorodinsky by 6-0 scores and finished round-robin play in just over an hour.

Harvard-Westlake’s Jessica Leck, a sophomore, won, 6-1, 6-1, 6-0, and freshman Alexandra Maclennan was as dominating as Berg, also winning her sets by 6-0 scores, and clinching the match with her victory over Prause.

“I think we got a lot of confidence from beating Santa Margarita in the semifinals and everyone just wanted to win today,” Berg said. “I’m really excited. This is a really big deal.”

Harvard-Westlake not only benefited from the exceptional play of Berg, the No. 13-ranked player in Southern California in the girls’ 16 division, but that of Leck and Maclennan.

The Wolverines also took advantage of some lineup changes by Laguna Hills. The Hawks stacked their doubles teams in an attempt to strengthen that area, but did so at the expense of singles.

Sophomore Tricia Lee, who played No. 2 singles for Laguna Hills until the Hawks’ last two matches, was inserted at No. 2 doubles with Michelle Ehrensberger. Usual No. 3 player Erina Hung played No. 3 doubles with Jen Hertz.

Laguna Hills (13-7) won eight of nine sets in doubles, but a victory by Harvard-Westlake’s No. 1 team of Chelsea Heller and Chelsea Dillon over the No. 1 team of Megan Davies and Jamie Lautenschleger in the first round ensured that the match would not go to a tie-breaker.

“They gave away singles, basically,” Leck said. “And when Stephanie won that first set, we were all like, ‘OK, we can do this.’ ”

The Wolverines fell to Laguna Hills in the semifinals last season and lost in the final to Palm Desert in 1997. Their only losses this season were to Peninsula and San Marino.

“I think we needed to break through,” Berg said. “ This is a good way to end it.”