Sage holds off Arroyo

ARROYO GRANDE — Sage Hill School girls’ tennis coach A.G. Longoria said he was a bit nervous because he relied so much on his doubles teams Tuesday.

But the doubles teams calmed his fears by winning nine sets and leading the Lightning to the CIF Southern Section Division III semifinals with a 10-8 victory at Arroyo Grande.

The No. 1 doubles team of Lauren Hsu and Ava Soleimany swept, as did the No. 2 doubles team of Katie Bick and Casey Astorino and the No. 3 tandem of Rian Billingsley and Kimberly Brown.

Liana Korber grabbed the all-important win in singles for Sage Hill (22-4), the No. 4 seed.

The Lightning will play at top-seeded West Ranch of Valencia Thursday. West Ranch beat Long Beach Wilson on games, 78-71, in a quarterfinal Tuesday.

Sage Hill and Arroyo Grande were tied after the first round, 3-3, then after the second round, 6-6, Longoria said.

“It came down to Liana Korber in the last set,” Longoria said of Korber’s big win. “They had a very loud crowd. The whole town seemed to be there.

“Our strategy was to win all our doubles and just try to get a win against their No. 3. It worked. It was a little scary. We had a lot of trust in doubles but that’s what we do.”

— From staff reports