Exon Relegates Nelson to Second Place Again

Top-seeded Elizabeth Exon of Irvine Woodbridge High won the Southern Section girls’ tennis tournament singles title with a 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory Friday over No. 2-seeded Lindsey Nelson of Villa Park at SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington Beach.

The match was reminiscent of last year’s final, where Nelson lost to another veritable human backboard, Anaheim Canyon’s Tracy Lin, in straight sets.

“All I can say is, she played a great match,” said Nelson, who was still visibly disappointed nearly half an hour after the match. “I wanted to win it. I had no doubt that I was going to win it this year. But I had no doubt I would win it last year too, and the same thing happened.”

The Corona del Mar doubles team of Taylynn Snyder and Brittany Holland made the most of its second chance at a championship, cruising past Fullerton Troy sisters Serena and Clare Fermin, 6-1, 6-4.

The victory helped to make up for a three-set loss to Calabasas’ Celia Durkin and Erin Everly in last season’s final.

It also gives the Snyder family its third section doubles title. Taylynn’s younger brother, Corona del Mar junior Garret Snyder, has won boys’ titles the last two seasons with different partners.

“We’re three out of four [in finals],” Garret said, grinning as he watched his sister accept the championship trophy. “We go and watch each other’s matches. Hopefully, I’ve helped her out a little bit.”

But neither the Corona del Mar doubles team nor Exon needed any help.

Exon, a senior left-hander headed to Michigan on a tennis scholarship, became the first Woodbridge player to win a section title.

She was the Warriors’ second singles finalist, following Susanna Lingman, who lost in 2000.

“I can’t believe myself. I played so good today,” said Exon, who outlasted Durkin, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, in the semifinals earlier Friday.

Against Nelson, she rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the second set to force the tiebreaker, in which she also came back from 3-0 deficit.

Exon began to swing the second set her way when trailing, 5-3, by winning the ninth game, in which Nelson squandered five set points. Exon used a cross-court backhand to earn a break point and converted it when Nelson, betrayed by her two-handed backhand throughout the match, hit one into the net to end the game.

Exon held the next game, then converted the last of three break-point attempts to win the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead after Nelson surrendered another game point on a backhand into the net.

Nelson, a junior, broke back in the next game to force the tiebreaker. But Exon earned four of her points there on bad backhands by Nelson, including three in a row that turned a 6-4 deficit for the Woodbridge player into a 7-6 lead.

On match point, Nelson sprayed a high forehand wide.

“It’s so great to end my senior year by winning [the section title],” said Exon, a semifinalist the last two seasons.