Lin Will Not Defend Her Tennis Title

Tracy Lin, the Southern Section girls’ tennis singles champion from Anaheim Canyon High, has decided not to play for her high school team this season.

Lin, a junior who defeated Villa Park’s Lindsay Nelson for the title last season, is enrolled at Canyon but has decided to focus on classwork and her private practice sessions.

“I just wanted to concentrate on other things and have more time to work on my game,” said Lin, who is ranked No. 38 nationally and No. 6 in Southern California in the U.S. Tennis Assn. standings.

“I won the title last year and that’s really all there is to accomplish in high school tennis.”

Lauren Peterson

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Five of the top seven teams in The Times’ girls’ golf rankings will play Monday in the third annual Alhambra Keppel tournament at Alhambra Golf Course.

Second-ranked Palm Desert, No. 3 Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula, No. 5 Anaheim Esperanza, No. 6 Fullerton Rosary and No. 7 South Torrance highlight the 20-team field.

Team scores will be calculated using the best three out of four scores.

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Amy Abts has taken over as coach for the Santa Margarita girls’ golf team. She replaces Jim Neilsen, who will continue to coach a lower-level girls’ team and the varsity boys’ team in the spring.

Santa Margarita has qualified for the Southern Section finals in two of the last three years and is expected to contend for the Serra League title this season.

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The rules on when girls’ golf matches become official have stirred confusion, most specifically the rule on whether a nine-hole match is considered official.

Southern Section Commissioner Jim Staunton said coaches must predetermine the number of holes in a match and when that number of holes has been completed, then the match becomes official.

Often, 18-hole matches take place over two days, with nine holes one day and nine another. Only the 18-hole scores count as an official match in those cases, Staunton said.

“If you declare a match as nine holes, then it’s official after that,” Staunton said. “But you can’t go tag on another nine later.”

The section limits teams to 18 varsity matches and stipulates that a match consists of 18 holes.

If coaches agree that a match will be nine holes, however, it counts against the limit.

Peter Yoon

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John Hawks, boys’ volleyball coach at Santa Margarita, has been hired as the assistant men’s volleyball coach at UC Irvine.

Hawks coached the Eagles for two years, and last season his team reached the Southern Section semifinals.

Martin Henderson