Gavin Settles Score at Ojai

Pardon Molly Gavin if she occasionally forgets the score of her match during the Ojai tournament, but she’s got more important things on her mind.

To Gavin, a freshman at San Pasqual High, the score can seem trivial compared to beating her opponent, college scholarships, freshly squeezed orange juice and boys.

Twice during her quarterfinal match Friday with Pam Trump of Arcadia, Gavin lost track of the score. But it didn’t seem to matter much as Gavin easily disposed of Trump and moved into today’s semifinals (9:30 a.m.) of the girls’ 16 division against fellow San Diegan Vanessa Rooks.

Rooks, a freshman at Monte Vista, defeated Betsy Miringoff, a freshman at Torrey Pines, 6-1, 6-4.

During the first set, Gavin and Trump stood at the net for five minutes trying to figure out the score of game. Then, in the second set, Gavin thought the score was deuce, but she was actually supposed to be serving.

“We just got screwed up a couple times,” Gavin said. “I’ve done this before. A lot of times, I’m so into what I’m doing that I lose track.”

Gavin didn’t have much time to lose track too often--her match lasted only 50 minutes. Earlier this year, Gavin and Trump played a four-hour marathon that Gavin won in the third set.

“That match was a lot of lobs on the baseline,” Gavin said. “I wanted to come out and be aggressive and make sure that didn’t happen again.”

Gavin made sure of it by taking many of Trump’s short balls in the air or by hitting winners from the baseline.

“I’m playing about as well as I can right now,” she said. “I’m really excited to be this far.”

Gavin, who lost in the quarterfinals here last year, said she has been pointing toward Ojai all year.

“I would like to win it, because I know all the college coaches are going to be here watching,” she said.

Just a freshman and already thinking about college?

“I want to go to UCLA, really bad,” Gavin said.

But for now, Gavin said, she wants to enjoy Ojai.

“I just love it up here,” Gavin said. “It’s such a treat to come up here--the weather, the orange juice at Libbey Park. It’s all great. There’s nothing like this in San Diego.”

“Don’t forget the guys,” Gavin’s mother said.

“Yeah, the guys up here aren’t bad, either,” Gavin said.

But Gavin will have to forget about guys for awhile today and concentrate on Rooks, who beat Gavin in their only meeting.

Rooks had a delay in her match too, but had nothing to do with forgetting the score. Trailing 5-1 in the first set, Miringoff became frustrated with Rooks’ line calls and asked for a referee.

After 15 minutes of waiting for a referee, a spectator came on the court to act as judge on any disputed calls. But after that, there were none.

“I guess she just did it to throw me off,” said Rooks, who will be making her second consecutive trip to the semifinals at Ojai.

Miringoff seemed to gain some momentum after the incident. Her forehands that were going long and wide, suddenly began to fall inside the lines, and she took a 3-1 lead in the second set.

But Miringoff lost her momentum just as quickly as she gained it. Rooks took advantage of Miringoff’s wayward groundstrokes to win five of the next six games and the match.

Afterward, Miringoff said she had no one to blame but herself.

“She has no weapons,” Miringoff said of Rooks. “I just went for the wrong shots at the wrong times. My strokes weren’t really fluid. I just played stupid.”

Tennis Notes

Britt Stenstrom, Gavin’s teammate at San Pasqual, lost to top-seeded Ania Bleszyinski, 6-1, 6-0, in the quarterfinals of the girls’ 16. . . . In girls’ 14s singles, three of the semifinalists are from San Diego. Marissa Velasco, Chula Vista, will play San Diego’s Candice Donahoe in one semifinal, and Torey Pratt of Rancho Santa Fe will play in the other. . . . In boys’ 16s singles, James Conda of San Diego and Taryn Burgk of Del Mar advanced to the semifinals. . . . In boys’ 16s doubles, Jerry Prior and Allan Jurlina of Bonita advanced to the semifinals. . . . In boys’ interscholastic singles, Joe Barberie of University City lost in the quarterfinals. . . . In boys’ interscholastic doubles, James Brown and Jonathan Elsberry of La Jolla reached the semifinals, while Paul Corona and Joe Tontz of USDHS lost in the quarterfinals. . . . In the girls’ 18s singles LeeAnn Rostovsky will play top-seeded Nicole London of Rolling Hills in the semifinals.