On-court couples uniting

NEWPORT BEACH — While the prospect of finding the perfect partner has created a lucrative business for Internet dating services, high school tennis coaches are annually forced to do a little matchmaking of their own when it comes to setting their doubles lineup.

Veteran Sage Hill School girls’ coach A.G. Longoria said Thursday’s 11-7 nonleague victory over Estancia at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club may have provided a few answers in terms of the Lightning’s on-court coupling.

“This is the best doubles we’ve played all year,” said Longoria, whose tennis twosomes won eight of nine sets to help overcome the absence of top singles players Julia Blakeley (flu) and Jacklyn Smrcek (recruiting trip).

“I was a little bit nervous not having [Blakeley and Smrcek], but, at the same time, we needed to see what we could do with our doubles.”

Longoria said he typically uses preleague matches to sample different pairings, then surveys his players as to which teammates with whom they feel most comfortable competing. With Academy League play opening today — Whitney visits the Lightning (8-1), ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division IV, at 3 p.m. — Longoria believes the time has come to start creating lasting relationships.

“Today’s match will go a long way to setting the doubles lineup,” Longoria said. “I think we’ve found something. I think we’ll be all right in doubles if we can keep up this kind of consistency.”

Sophomore Devyn Billingsley and junior Dominque Moore, playing together for only the second time this season, swept, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, to pace Sage’s doubles contingents.

The No. 1 Lightning pairing of senior Isa-Maria Taskinen and freshman Rian Billingsley, Devyn’s sister, also swept, winning 18 of 23 games.

And the senior duo of Allyson Smart and Sarah Choi won twice, then rallied from an 0-3 deficit, before falling, 7-5, to Estancia’s No. 1 pairing of Alex Payzant and Erin Rodman.

“[Devyn Billingsley and Moore] really played well,” Longoria said. “They came through [Wednesday, in their debut together], winning two sets against Calvary Chapel. Devyn is one of our five players ranked [in junior tennis], and we’ve been pleasantly surprised with Dominique’s play. She has always been a very powerful player, but she’s starting to be more consistent with her returns.”

Moore and the elder Billingsley, who said they bonded as friends before they began taking the court together, both expressed a desire to remain athletically aligned.

“I think we play pretty well together,” Moore said. “We’re planning on playing a [junior] tournament in November together, too.”

Devyn Billingsley said Moore’s power game helps shorten rallies, while Moore said Billingsley’s consistency, as well as her aggressiveness at the net, makes them collectively competitive beyond the sum of their parts.

Setting herself apart Thursday was Estancia senior Ellie Edles, who avoided any letdown after learning upon arrival that Blakeley went home from school earlier in the afternoon after becoming ill, to win 18 of 19 games in her sweep at No. 1 singles.

“I was excited to play [Blakeley] today, so I was disappointed that she wasn’t here,” said Edles, who committed recently to playing collegiately at UC Davis, which will create an interesting Big West Conference rivalry with her father, Mike Edles, the women’s tennis coach at UC Irvine. “But, having prepared all day to be really focused for that match, I think really helped me today.”

Edles used accuracy and pace to take apart all three foes, while Estancia’s No. 2 singles player, Kendra Fisher won two of three sets to help the visitors stay close.

Freshman Katie Bick, filling in at No. 1 singles, won twice to help the winners.

Nonleague

Sage Hill 11, Estancia 7

Singles – Bick (SH) lost to Edles, 0-6, def. Johnston, 6-1, def. Fisher, 6-2; Tucker (SH) lost, 2-6, 0-6, won, 6-2; Murray (SH) lost, 2-6, 1-6 (sub) Astorino (SH) lost, 1-6.

Doubles – Taskinen-R. Billingsley (SH) def. Payzant-Rodman, 6-4, def. Hinson-O’Neil, 6-1, def. Brown-Plascencia, 6-0; D. Billingsley-Moore (SH) won, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0; Choi-Smart (SH) won, 6-2, 6-2, lost, 7-5.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.