Corona del Mar Players Cruise to Sweet 16

Four county singles players had no problem reaching the round of 16 in the Southern Section individual tennis championships Saturday at the Old Ranch Club in Seal Beach.

Corona del Mar’s Anne Yelsey and Brittany Reitz, Sunny Hills’ Joanna Kao and Dana Hills’ Kady Pooler advanced to the Nov. 30-Dec. 1 tournament at the Claremont Club without dropping a set.

The two Corona del Mar players had the easiest time. Neither lost a game. Yelsey, who didn’t play the tournament last year, beat Michelle Van Oppen of Mater Dei, 6-0, 6-0, and won by default over Troy’s Aya Sakoda.

Reitz defeated Joyce Kim of Cypress and Esperanza’s Kelly Six, 6-0, 6-0.

“It’s going to be a great tournament,” said Reitz, a junior who has never played this event. “Everybody has a shot at winning. I’m excited to be in it.”

Pooler, who defeated Western’s Sabrina Tanamal, 6-1, 6-0, and Esperanza’s H.R. Espiritu, 6-3, 6-2, was also looking forward to her first round of 16 singles appearance. Last year, she reached the doubles semifinals with Chelsy Thompson. Pooler’s singles game has improved a lot in the last year, but she is still fine-tuning her serve.

“I’m trying to get more wrist snap with it,” she said. “It’s still a little inconsistent. But I’m using high school tennis to practice my game. This doesn’t count against my ranking, so I might as well try different things.”

In doubles, Troy’s team of Veronica Fermin and Stacy Lee rallied to beat second-seeded Kristen Wilson and Kristin Bronowicki of Dana Hills, 5-7, 7-6 and 7-2 in the tiebreaker that decided the third set. Mater Dei’s Casey Knutson and Jodie Nygaard defeated Dana Hills’ Amy Vhynis and Adriana Maracini, 6-3, 5-7, 11-9 (tiebreaker).

The top-seeded team of Brittany Holland and Leslie Damion of Corona del Mar advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Michelle Dinh and Karen Eitan of Troy. Los Alamitos’ Gia Nafarrete and Melissa Selmanson advanced with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Laguna Beach’s Caroline Tucker and Meghan McGillvray.

At the Billy Jean King tennis courts in Long Beach:

County players advance--Susanna Lingman and Elizabeth Exon of Woodbridge each won two matches to advance to the round of 16. Villa Park’s Lindsey Nelson also advanced to the round of 16. In doubles, Arti Iyer and Laura Robinson of Villa Park won both of their matches to advance.

At the Claremont tennis club:

Canyon singles player advances--Tracy Lin of Canyon won three singles matches to advance to the round of 16.