Los Alamitos Advances to Final Match

The match was closer than expected, but Los Alamitos defeated Carlsbad La Costa Canyon 25-18,14-25, 25-22, 19-25, 15-13, Saturday night to advance to the Southern California Division I regional final match Tuesday.

The victory was supposed to earn the Griffins (26-9) a rematch with Sunset League rival Anaheim Esperanza, but the top-seeded Aztecs failed to cooperate, losing to Poway, 25-22, 28-26, 25-22, in another regional semifinal.

Poway’s sweep of Esperanza means that Los Alamitos, which defeated Esperanza twice during the regular season but lost to the Aztecs in the Southern Section Division I-AA title match two weeks ago, won’t get a chance to redeem that loss.

Kara Uhl of Los Alamitos had 14 kills, two aces and a block to lead the Griffins past La Costa Canyon.

Middle blocker Alex Filkins got the game-winner with a block on Taylor Groess.

La Costa Canyon, which lost to Poway in the San Diego Section Division I final, finished 31-6.

-- Paul McLeod

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Huntington Beach Edison High junior Jennie Lee won her first American Junior Golf Assn. major-tournament championship by beating In-Bee Park of Eustis, Fla., 2-up, in the final round of match play in the AJGA Polo Junior Championships on Saturday at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Lee entered match play as the No. 1-seeded player after winning the stroke-play portion of the tournament with scores of 66-71-137 for the first two rounds. She advanced to the title match by defeating Taylor Leon of Dallas, 4 and 3.

Lee went ahead for good on No. 3 and won the 335-yard, par-four ninth hole for a 2-up lead. Park, the 2002 Polo Golf Girls Junior Player of the Year, won the next hole to cut the lead to 1-up, but Lee maintained the advantage with steady play and parred the last hole to secure the victory.

The coaches of three of the most successful girls’ tennis programs in the Southland -- Laguna Beach, Corona del Mar and Santa Ana Mater Dei -- have resigned their positions.

Brian Ricker, who posted a 39-7 record and guided the Laguna Beach girls’ tennis team to the Southern Section Division I semifinals the last two seasons, has resigned as the Breakers’ coach and plans to move to East Lansing, Mich, next week in hopes of catching on as a college coach or assistant. He will be replaced by Greg Weiss, an Orange County-area teaching pro who has worked with many of the Breakers’ players.

Scott Feichter just completed his only season as the girls’ coach at Corona del Mar, where he led the Sea Kings to a 15-5 record and the Division I semifinals. No successor has been named.

Richard Berman, who guided freshman-laden Mater Dei (18-1) to the Division I quarterfinals, told his team Tuesday that he had resigned as the Monarchs’ coach. No replacement has been named.

-- Lauren Peterson