HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS PLAYOFFS : Calabasas Takes Single-Minded Approach in 10-8 Quarterfinal Victory

Natasha Pospich, Stacy Jellen and Alison Paris--possibly the Southern Section’s top singles trio--swept their matches Tuesday to lift Calabasas High over Westlake, 10-8, in a 3-A Division tennis quarterfinal match at Westlake Village Racquet Club.

Calabasas (15-0), the fifth-seeded team, won just one doubles match in defeating the fourth-seeded Warriors (21-1).

“I figured Natasha and Stacy would be untouchables,” Westlake Coach Connie Flanderka said. “If we got any of those games, it would just be icing on the cake.”

Jellen and Paris each lost four games in three matches. Pospich, a junior who has lost just four games all season, won her three matches by 6-0 scores.

The wins came as no surprise to Pospich.

“I know these people,” she said. “I’ve played almost all of them in tournaments so I knew I could beat them.”

Calabasas Coach Bill Belatty says that his top two players assure the Coyotes of six points.

“It’s very difficult to find a one-two punch like Natasha and Stacy,” he said.

The Coyotes were, however, considerably weaker in doubles. Alyse Bartelstone and Alison Levitt, Westlake’s No. 3 team, defeated Samantha Meo and Tracy Paris, 6-2, Melissa Pifko and Jenny Gilbert, 6-3, and Faye Reisman and Jenny Rabin, 6-1.

Westlake’s Kim Stewart and Ari Kia also won all three of their doubles matches, one by default.

Calabasas will play top-seeded Capistrano Valley, a 12-6 winner over Laguna Hills, in the semifinals Thursday at a site to be determined.

In another Southern Section match:

Katella 13, Louisville 5--The Royals (19-3) were eliminated in the 2-A quarterfinal match at home as No. 1 singles player Maureen Sifferman was defeated in three matches, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1.

City Section

Taft 7, University 0--Julie Koppekin, Taft’s No. 1 singles player recorded a victory in a 4-A Division quarterfinal at The Racquet Center in Universal City.

Taft will play Fairfax, a 4-3 winner over Grant, in a semifinal match Thursday.