Girls tennis: CdM captures CIF Division IV title

Richard Dunn

CLAREMONT - Following Corona del Mar High’s CIF Southern Section

Division IV girls tennis championship Monday, there was more talk about

who the Sea Kings didn’t play than who they defeated (Calabasas) in the

title match at the Claremont Club.

No title can be tainted when you play who you’re assigned, but the Sea

Kings, after beating Calabasas, 13-5, for the Division IV championship,

couldn’t help but think about longtime Division I rival Peninsula.

“I think we’d have a really good shot at Peninsula with the way our

team is now,” said sophomore sensation Anne Yelsey, referring to the

addition of singles players Brittany Reitz and Kim Singer, who did not

play against Peninsula when the host Panthers defeated CdM, 15-3, on

Sept. 19.

Moreover, CdM Coach Andy Stewart feels his doubles teams have improved

tremendously the past two months.

But Monday’s Division IV opponent, which hadn’t lost all season,

simply did not have the weapons to compete against top-seeded CdM.

Calabasas (21-1), the second seed, went down fast, like the rest of

CdM’s playoff foes in a format changed this year by the CIF Southern

Section, prohibiting teams from moving up. CIF officials said Monday the

rule might be overturned next year.

“We couldn’t play them straight up,” said Calabasas Coach Bill

Bellatty, who moved two singles players to load up his doubles lineup,

which proved mildly effective as the Coyotes won four doubles sets, more

than the Sea Kings’ previous three playoff opponents combined.

“I scouted them,” added Bellatty, who didn’t want to lose, 18-0, like

Chaminade, CdM’s semifinal victim. “I knew they’d be real good. I knew

what we were up against and didn’t want to take a chance, so I stacked

our doubles. We knew what was going on. Ever since they got that new girl

(Reitz, who became eligible Oct. 16), I’m sure they’re undefeated.”

They are.

But the Sea Kings lose only two seniors and return the bulk of their

lineup next year, including all three singles players. Bellatty did not

want to comment for the record what he thought about CdM returning to

Division IV in 2001 with the exact same lineup.

For the Sea Kings, it’s their first CIF title since 1997, when the Tim

Mang-coached squad captured a national championship, according to USA

Today. They lost in the section quarterfinals in 1998 and semifinals last

year (to Peninsula).

“That’s what we want to do next year, beat Peninsula and win that

National High School Invitational (hosted by CdM) -- two things we didn’t

do this year,” Stewart said.

Yelsey, the Pacific Coast League singles champion who won 36 of 38

games in the CIF semifinals and finals, and Reitz were nearly perfect

against Calabasas. Singer won two of three sets at No. 3 singles at love.

In doubles, the PCL-champion tandem of junior Leslie Damion and

freshman Brittany Holland swept against the Coyotes, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. Their

win over Erin Everly and Hilary Leewrong in the second round clinched the

match for the Sea Kings, who jumped out to a 5-1 lead.

Damion and Holland closed out the season at 35-0, while CdM’s No. 2

doubles team of juniors Laura Claster and Katie Tenerelli won two of

three sets. Brittany Minna and Juliette Mutzke played third doubles for

CdM.

“We knew if we played well we could do it,” said Yelsey, who was still

seething Monday after defaulting Saturday in the CIF individual

championships to Troy’s Aya Sakoda in the Round of 32.

Yelsey said she had an event to attend Saturday after winning earlier

in the day, and returned later to play Sakoda. But Sakoda had already

left when Yelsey arrived and the CdM standout was forced to default.

“I was really ticked off, actually. I think I could’ve won CIF this

year,” Yelsey said. “I feel like I’ve really improved my game the last

few weeks to a month.

“But I’ll play CIF next year. I just have to wait another year.”

There’s no waiting, however, for a CIF team championship. It is the

school’s sixth section title in girls tennis, and first in a small

division.

CIF DIVISION IV FINALS

Corona del Mar 13, Calabasas 5

Singles - Yelsey (CdM) def. Schnitman, 6-0, def. Wiesner, 6-1, def.

Kagan, 6-0; Reitz (CdM) won 6-0, 6-1, 6-0; Singer (CdM) won 6-0, lost

0-6, won 6-0.

Doubles - Holland-Damion (CdM) def. Durkin-Yano, 6-3, def. A.

Leewrong-Solomon, 6-4, def. Everly-H. Leewrong, 6-1; Claster-Tenerelli

(CdM) lost 2-6, won 6-4, 6-2; Minna-Mutzke (CdM) lost 1-6, 2-6, 4-6.