Girls tennis: Palm Desert storm

Richard Dunn

CLAREMONT - Don’t be deceived by the final score. It was a riveting

championship match for top-seeded Palm Desert High in the CIF Southern

Section Division III girls tennis final Monday over Newport Harbor at the

Claremont Club.

“We’ve been on top of the CIF rankings all year, but we haven’t played

anybody in our division (until the playoffs),” said Palm Desert Coach

Saul Lopez, whose undefeated squad defeated Coach Fletcher Olson’s

Sailors, 12-6.

“All these Orange County teams, they get to play all the tough matches

every single match. Or closest match this year was 12-6 (against

Woodbridge in nonleague).”

Despite Palm Desert’s lofty record (24-0), the Aztecs went virtually

unchallenged in 2000 with several highly ranked players.

“This was a different situation here in the finals, where every set

counts. I felt Newport Harbor had the advantage because of the stiff

competition (it) plays all year long ... this was definitely a challenge.

“Our tournament girls are used to playing tough, competitive matches.

They’re out there every weekend doing it. But for a lot of them, this was

as much pressure as they’ve felt all year.”

Third-seeded Newport Harbor (18-7), which played in the CIF Division I

championship match in 1993, ’96 and last year (losing all three times),

upset second-seeded Mater Dei in the semifinals, 10-8, to advance to the

Division III final.

Palm Desert captured its fourth CIF championship in seven years and

its second in Division III.

The Aztecs, however, were never tested on their way to a Desert Valley

League title and didn’t play a grueling nonleague schedule like Newport

Harbor.

“We changed our lineup against Mater Dei and pulled (junior) Megan

Hawkins into doubles, but this team just had too much depth in singles

and doubles, so I put Megan back in singles,” said Olson, whose team lost

every set at No. 1 and No. 2 singles and doubles, while sweeping against

Palm Desert’s third singles and doubles.

“This (Harbor) team definitely earned its way here to the finals. It’s

tough, because we have four freshmen (singles player Vanessa Dunlap and

doubles players Diana Khoury, A.J. Olson and Bonnie Adams), and they

really don’t understand what CIF is. But it’ll toughen them up for the

future. They’re just like the Fab Five (of ‘96).”

Five fabulous freshmen, or so they were billed, toed the Harbor courts

that fall and lost to Peninsula in the Division I title match, after

knocking off the Panthers earlier and snapping their 120-match winning

streak.

Last year, Newport Harbor lost to Peninsula, 10-8, in the CIF Division

I finals.

But Palm Desert would be too much to overcome, as sophomore Robyn

Baker, ranked 12th in the Southern California 16s, swept the Tars, 6-0,

6-0, 6-1, while the Aztecs’ No. 2 singles player, freshman Jennifer Joy,

won 6-2, 6-1, 6-0. Joy is ranked 25th in the Southern California 14s.

Baker and two Palm Desert doubles teams are still alive in the CIF

individual championships Nov. 30-Dec. 1 at the Claremont Club in the

Round of 16.

In Monday’s opening round, Dunlap won at No. 3 singles and the

Sailors’ third doubles team of Olson-Adams posted a win as the Aztecs

assumed a 4-2 lead. But that wasn’t so ordinary for Palm Desert. “It was

the closest we’ve been in the first round all year,” said Lopez, whose

team led, 5-1, after the first round when it defeated Woodbridge.

“When you’re No. 1, you have nowhere else to go. Newport Harbor had

nothing to lose, so we really had to go out and prove ourselves.”

In 1994, Palm Desert beat Brentwood for the CIF Division IV title,

knocked off Dana Hills for the Division II crown in ’96 and topped

Harvard-Westlake in ’97 for the Division III championship. The school’s

tennis program is only 14 years old.

For the Sailors, No. 1 singles player Kelly Nelson and No. 2 player

Hawkins each won a set, while the Newport Harbor No. 1 doubles team of

junior Carmen Khoury and freshman Diana Khoury, and the No. 2 tandem of

Krista McIntosh and Erika Buder, won one set.

“This team does not have a lot of tournament players, only three or

four out of 10, and it’s a lot more rewarding to get here to the finals

with that kind of team,” Fletcher Olson said. “They’ve come a long way

and I’m real happy with their progress.”

CIF DIVISION III FINALS

Palm Desert 12, Newport Harbor 6

Singles - Nelson (NH) lost to Baker, 0-6, lost to Joy, 2-6, def.

Stone, 6-0; Hawkins (NH) lost 0-6, 1-6, won 6-0; Dunlap (NH) lost 1-6,

0-6, won 6-1.

Doubles - C. Khoury-D. Khoury (NH) lost to Houston-Planck, 1-6, lost

to Lindblad-Duncan, 5-7, def. Kiner-Acosta, 6-4; McIntosh-Buder (NH) lost

0-6, 4-6, won 7-5; Olson-Adams (NH) lost 1-6, 3-6, won 6-2.