Breakers have mixed results

The Laguna Beach High girls’ tennis team opened defense of its Orange Coast League title Tuesday without breaking a sweat.

The Breakers, ranked seventh in CIF Southern Section Division 2, were awarded a forfeit victory against Saddleback, which didn’t have enough players for the match. The Breakers also played a league match against Estancia on Thursday , but the score wasn’t available at press time.

Last week, the Breaker played a pair of nonleague matches against Northwood and San Clemente. The Breakers lost both, falling, 12-6, to Northwood, and 15-3, to San Clemente. The Breakers’ top doubles team of senior co-captains Chloe Mansour and Dominique Willette won five of six sets in the two matches.

The Breakers have been playing without top singles player Brooke Michaels, who is out with an ankle injury. Michaels suffered her injury in a Sept. 5 match at Edison.

Laguna hosts Beckman in nonleague play at 3 p.m. Monday.

*

Cross-Country

The Laguna Beach girls’ team finished in 19th place in the rated race Saturday at the Woodbridge Invitational in Irvine.

Sophomore Olivia Clark turned in a time of 18 minutes, 40 seconds, which girls’ Coach Steve Lalim said is the eighth-fastest time in program history.

“As a whole, we are getting faster, we’re getting stronger, and I think we competed well Saturday,” said Lalim, whose team is ranked eighth in CIF Division 4. “After two races, I’m excited. We have a very good team.”

The Laguna boys’ team also turned what Coach Scott Wittkop said was a “great showing,” at the Woodbridge Invitational. In the overall standings, the Breakers placed 15th among 109 teams and were the top CIF-SS Division 4 team.

Senior Jack Crawford was Laguna’s top finisher at 15:47, with junior Veda Rebollar just behind at 15:54.

The Breakers compete Saturday at the Dana Hills Invitational.

*

Girls’ Volleyball

The Breakers, the top-ranked team in CIF-SS Division 1-A, dropped a tight match Tuesday at Corona del Mar, where the host Sea Kings, ranked third in Division 1-AA, scored a 25-20, 25-22, 25-22 victory.

Alyse Ford had 23 kills and eight digs, Julia Goggin added eight kills and seven digs, and Sevana Drovak finished with 33 assists for Laguna, which fell to 3-2. The Breakers’ other loss came Sept. 11 to Newport Harbor, the No. 9 team in Division 1-AA.

Laguna starts play Friday at the Dave Mohs Tournament, hosted by Edison. The Breakers are the No. 2-seed in Pool 5 and will play their matches at Newport Harbor High.

The Breakers open the tournament at 3:30 p.m. Friday against Upland.

Following the Dave Mohs Tournament, the Breakers begin defense of their Orange Coast League title Tuesday with a 4:30 p.m. home match against Saddleback.

*

Boys’ Water Polo

The Breakers, ranked fifth in CIF-SS Division 2, are playing in the South Coast Tournament, which started Thursday. The 32-team event continues Friday and concludes Saturday.

“The South Coast Tournament is the premier Orange County tournament of the fall season,” Laguna Coach Ethan Damato said. “There are 32 extremely good teams. I’m hoping this tournament provides us with challenges that make us play at a high level consistently through the weekend. That is our biggest challenge as a group, in both training and games. We need to be more consistent from day to day and game to game if we want to be an elite team.”

Laguna went up against top-notch competition last week when they traveled north to face Agoura in nonleague play and compete at the Santa Barbara Tournament. The Breakers took Agoura, the top-ranked team in CIF-SS Division 2 , to overtime, but lost, 8-5. They went 2-2 at the Santa Barbara Tournament, which ended Saturday.

At the tournament, the Breakers defeated Dos Pueblos (10-7) and Acalanes (16-10), lost to Miramonte of Northern California (10-9), and lost to Vista of San Diego (12-11).

“I was really impressed with the way our guys played in the losses to Agoura and Miramonte,” Damato said. “The Agoura game, we controlled both sides of the ball, and in my opinion, outplayed them for most the game. That game gave us a great idea of where we are in the division and we know now we are capable of beating anyone.

“With that said, we need to learn how to close out games and win the close battles. We lost two overtime game and another by one goal. We could very easily have won any of those games. Learning how to win the close games will be a big part of how far we go as a team.”

Defending Orange Coast League champion Laguna begins its league slate Wednesday hosting Saddleback at 3:15 p.m.

*

Girls’ Golf

The Breakers concluded the nonleague portion of their schedule with matches against Sage Hill and Aliso Niguel.

In Monday’s match with Sage Hill, the Breakers fell to the host Lightning, 225-298, at Strawberry Farms (back nine, par 35) in Irvine. Leslie Dwight had the top score for Laguna, shooting a 48.

Laguna (0-4) took on Aliso Niguel on Wednesday at Aliso Creek Golf Course (par 32) in Laguna Beach, and dropped a 186-265 match to the Wolverines. MaryKate Quellmalz turned in Laguna’s top score with a 46.

The Breakers start Orange Coast League play Monday at defending-champion Estancia. The match starts at 2:30 p.m. at Mesa Linda Golf Course in Costa Mesa.

“That match should give us a good idea how well we compare with a top team in our league,” Breakers assistant coach Sean Quigley said.

michael.sciacca@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeSciacca