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

No double trouble here.

The Calabasas High girls’ tennis team recorded a sweep of nine doubles sets and double-crossed San Marino, beating the defending-champion Titans, 10-8, to win the Southern Section Division IV title Monday at The Claremont Club.

“I stacked my doubles. That was our only chance,” said Calabasas Coach Bill Bellatty. “We wanted to win nine doubles and we won nine. We were going to go from there.”

The Coyotes (20-3) picked up one singles victory when No. 1 player Erin Everly beat No. 3 Stacey Cheung, 6-1, in a matchup of freshmen. Everly’s victory was important because it came before the Coyotes had wrapped up their doubles sweep.

That came when the No. 3 team of senior Kathy Habuki and freshman Chloe Solomon edged the No. 2 team of Wendy Yang and Judy Wan, 6-4, in an emotionally charged match. Habuki and Solomon won their other sets by scores of 6-1 and 6-3.

The final victory touched off a tearful celebration by the Coyotes, who lost to San Marino, 12-6, in the 1998 final and had lost a regular-season match to the Titans by the same margin earlier this season.

“We pulled it out,” Habuki said. “It was nerve-racking. It was so intense, and when we finally won, I was just glad it was over.”

Calabasas worked its doubles lineup to perfection, stacking the deck against San Marino by putting the Coyotes’ regular No. 2 team of Brittany Bierman and Vanessa Everly at No. 1, and splitting the usual No. 1 team of Habuki and Andrea Leewong.

Leewong played No. 2 doubles with Jackie Yano, and Habuki teamed with Solomon at No. 3, strengthening both teams.

San Marino (18-5-1) had Luana Magnani, the top player in Southern California in the girls’ 16 division, at No. 1 singles. But each of Calabasas’ singles players took a game off Magnani.

Erin Everly, ranked No. 41 in Southern California in girls’ 16s, took advantage of the absence of San Marino’s Andrea Yung to post the Coyotes’ lone singles victory.

Yung, ranked No. 6 in Southern California in girls’ 16s, played No. 2 or No. 3 singles for San Marino most of the season. But she traveled to Texas last week for a national indoor competition and missed the Titans’ last two matches of the season.

“I think we had our hopes up,” Bierman said. “We were all feeling really confident, no matter who was here or not here.

“It was a major emotional match, especially since we lost to them last year.”

Calabasas, ranked among the top two teams in Division IV all year and the top-seeded team in the playoffs, won its last six matches of the season.

“They did what everyone tries to do against us, and they just outplayed us today,” San Marino Coach Maureen Bryant said.