Carson Girls Takea Familiar Route

Carson and Granada Hills girls’ tennis teams met in the City Section championship match for the third year in a row, and for the second consecutive year, Carson won, 4-3, Friday at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino.

Carson (16-0) swept all three doubles matches and its No. 1 singles player, Judith De Vera, defeated Granada Hills’ No. 1, Jessica Nguyen, 6-3, 6-2, in a matchup of seasoned U.S.Tennis Assn. junior-circuit players.

De Vera, the singles runner-up in the City Section individual tournament last season, is No. 8 in Southern California in the USTA girls’ 18 division standings. Nguyen is No. 5 in Southern California girls’ 14’s.

The Colts got their doubles sweep when senior Kim Espiritu, who played No. 3 singles all season, and Cielo Domingo, who usually played No. 2 doubles, teamed at No. 1 doubles to defeat Tracey Takeshita and Canna Furuta, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, in the last match to be completed.

“It was tough, but we got through it,” Domingo said.

Granada Hills (15-1), which was making its fourth consecutive appearance in the City final match, re-tooled its lineup to counter Carson’s expected focus on doubles.

The Highlanders had freshman Ramya Sreepathi, who usually played with Takeshita at No. 1 doubles, in the No. 4 singles spot, where she won, 6-2, 6-0.

“The strategy was there,” Granada Hills Coach Ron Wood said. “But they executed it better. They just played better than we did.”

Granada Hills beat Carson, 4-3, in 1999’s final.

*

Venice 5, Narbonne 2--Kristen Wong defeated Sharon Cho, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 3 singles and Venice (12-4) beat Narbonne (12-4) in the City Invitational final match.