Peninsula Girls Defeat No. 1 Corona del Mar

Newport Beach Corona del Mar is known for its star power, but it was Palos Verdes Peninsula that shined brightest Saturday with a 5-4 victory over the Sea Kings in the championship match of the second National High School All-American girls’ tennis tournament at Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.

“We are so happy,” said senior Shilpa Joshi of Peninsula. “Win or lose, we wanted to play our best, and we did exactly what we wanted.”

The No. 2-seeded Dolphins (11-2), ranked No. 1 in Southern Section Division I and No. 2 in The Times’ rankings, had to work hard.

Peninsula was not assured of victory over Corona del Mar, the top-seeded team and No. 1 in Division IV and The Times’ rankings, until Colby Comstock broke a 5-5 tie and defeated Brittany Holland, 7-5, at No. 2 singles.

Comstock and Christina Jackson also won, 6-4, in doubles.

The tournament was played under a head-to-head collegiate format, with six single sets and three double sets, and with players allowed to compete in both.

Corona del Mar, which has five players among the top 50 in Southern California in their age groups, was without Brittany Reitz, the defending Southern Section singles champion. Reitz was on a recruiting trip to Northwestern.

“She’s two points,” Corona del Mar Coach Andy Stewart said. “Without her, it moves everybody down and it just makes such a difference.”

Not to Peninsula, which lost last year’s tournament final to Beverly Hills.

“We were ready,” Joshi said. “It would have been fun if she was here. We wanted her to be here. But we did fine.”

Unseeded Dana Hills (9-3) upset fourth-seeded Beverly Hills, 5-4, in the third-place match.

Kady Pooler and Kristen Wilson each won singles matches and were part of winning doubles teams for Dana Hills.

Lauren Peterson

*

In cross-country:

Clovis Invitational--McFarland, the defending state Division IV boys’ champion, edged Division I powers Canyon Country Canyon, Riverside Rubidoux and Long Beach Poly in the seeded race at Woodward Park in Fresno.

McFarland, the No. 23-ranked team in the nation by Harrier magazine, totaled 146 points followed by No. 12 Canyon (150), unranked Rubidoux (151) and No. 10 Long Beach Poly (162).

Canyon, led by third-place Luke Llamas, had three runners ahead of McFarland’s top runner, but McFarland’s superior depth prevailed.

Llamas ran 15:26 over the 5,000-meter course, which will be the site of the state championships on Nov. 24. Billy Nelson of Taft placed first in 15:10 with Brett Gotcher of Aptos second in 15:17.

Chino Hills Ayala won the large schools girls’ title with 136 points. Canyon was second with 172 and Lake Forest El Toro was third with 178.

John Ortega

*

In boys’ water polo:

San Diego Coronado 8, Newport Beach Corona del Mar 6--Coronado (11-0) scored the first four goals and held off the Sea Kings in the championship game of the Southern California Invitational tournament at Heritage Park in Irvine.

Corona del Mar (11-1) cut the lead to 4-2 late in the second quarter and 6-3 late in the third, but Coronado answered with two consecutive, 8-3.

Mike March, Artie Dorr and John Mann scored three consecutive goals during a two-minute span late in the fourth quarter, but the Sea Kings ran out of time. March scored two goals to lead Corona del Mar, The Times’ top-ranked team.

Dougie Mann scored three goals for Coronado, the defending San Diego Section Division II champions.

North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, ranked third, defeated No. 2 Servite, 10-7, in the third-place game.

*

Riverside Poly 15, Whittier La Serna 7--Mike Looy scored seven goals and Eric Qualls had six for Riverside Poly, the ninth-ranked team in the region and No. 1 in Southern Section Division V.

La Serna is ranked third in Division III.

Dan Arritt