Peninsula gets past CdM

Typically, when two of the top four teams in the Southern Section

meet, you have both teams sweating through a breathtaking finish.

The 90 degree temperature accounted for the sweat, but the

breathtaking finish never occurred.

Peninsula, ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section, won in a

nonleague match, 14-4.

Corona del Mar lost their first match of the year, yet showed a

sense of determination in their initial setback of the campaign.

Freshmen Natalie Zotovich and Danielle Kaiden impressed again. The

duo won their first two sets, 6-2, 6-3 before falling to Peninsula’s

No.1 team of Emily Aston and Stephanie Chen, 7-5.

The team of Katie McKitterick and Lindsay Norman had the most

impressive Sea King rally of the day. In their final match of the

afternoon, McKitterick and Norman were trailing by a margin of 4-1.

The girls traded games to put the set at 5-2. The pair played nearly

flawlessly to complete the rally and pull out a 7-5 victory.

“I was really impressed with our No. 2 (McKitterick-Norman) and

No. 3 (Zotovich-Kaiden) teams,” said Ricker. “They especially played

well against Chen and Aston.”

CdM did not give themselves a chance to compete in the match

losing all nine singles sets.

“They have too many good singles players. We did not match up well

with their girls,” said CdM coach Brian Ricker. “Our girls did show

composure. These matches should prepare us for our schedule down the

road.”

The heat seemed to slow down play as both teams took extra time to

rehydrate between matches. Coach Ricker showed excellent

sportsmanship donating a case of bottled water to the Peninsula team.

Clearly, the girls from Palos Verdes Estates were not expecting this

heat.

“This is the hottest weather we have played in,” said Peninsula

tennis coach Tom Cox. “It felt like it was 15 degrees cooler when we

left Peninsula.

The wide margin of victory was an apparently a shock to the

visitors as well.

Peninsula was up 9-3 after the second round of sets. Cox wanted to

insert his substitute players for the final sets. He was only able to

bring in one singles and one doubles team.

The answer: lack of equipment

CdM (6-1) plays host to Laguna Beach Thursday night.

Nonleague

Peninsula 14,

Corona del Mar 4

Singles -- Miller lost to Mahtani 6-2, lost to Tam 6-4, lost to

Tatsuno 6-0; Atkins (CdM) lost 6-1, 6-3, 1-6; Lee (CdM) lost 6-0, sub

Bryan (CdM) lost 6-1, lost 6-0.

Doubles -- H.Young- M.Young lost to Aston-Chen 6-3, sub

Claure-Devin lost to Chang-Kitomura 6-2, def. Steinhaurer-Birth 7-5;

McKitterick-Norman (CdM) lost 7-5, 6-1, won 7-6; Kaiden-Zotovich

(CdM) lost 7-5, won 6-2, 6-3.