Tennis postseason continues with CIF Southern Section Individuals on Monday

Corona del Mar High senior Danielle Willson has already helped lead the Sea Kings girls’ tennis team to its first CIF Southern Section Division 1 title in 11 years, and this weekend she has the program’s first CIF USTA Southern California Regionals title in her sights.

Come Monday, though, the USC-bound Willson will turn her sights to individual glory. The CIF Southern Section Individuals tournament begins in singles and doubles, with the first three rounds being completed Monday.

Willson, the Pacific Coast League singles champion, has made CIF Individuals for the fourth year in a row. She’s a contender for the title, after advancing to the singles quarterfinals last year. Willson and four of her CdM tennis teammates will be back at the Claremont Club yet again for the first day of individuals. League doubles champions Shaya Northrup and Paulina Loredo will compete in doubles for the Sea Kings at individuals, as will league runner-up Annika Bassey and Kristina Evloeva.

Laguna Beach is also at the Claremont Club site, led by Orange Coast League singles champion Ella Pachl, a sophomore. The Breakers’ league doubles champions of senior Lina Gleizer and sophomore Jai-Lin Garrett will compete, as will the league runner-up duo of juniors Megan Mindt and Jessa Chaney.

The CIF Individuals site for Sunset League athletes is Whittier Narrows Tennis Center in South El Monte. Newport Harbor senior Nicole Knickerbocker, the league singles champion, will compete there Monday, as will league runner-up Zoe Coggins of Edison, a sophomore. Fountain Valley seniors Hanh Pham and Vikki Nguyen, the league doubles runner-up, also will be in action at Whittier Narrows.

Sage Hill, meanwhile, has Academy League doubles champions Nicole Condas and Michelle Hung competing in CIF Individuals. Condas, a senior, and Hung, a junior, play Monday at Andulka Park Tennis Center in Riverside. Condas and Hung nearly advanced past the first day of competition last year, losing in the third round in a third-set super-tiebreaker to a team from San Marino.

Depending on seeding, singles players and doubles teams that advance past Monday play again either in the round of 32 on Nov. 28 at Whittier Narrows or in the round of 16 on Nov. 29 at Seal Beach Tennis Center.

The CIF Southern Section Individuals singles and doubles semifinals and finals are scheduled for Nov. 30, also at Seal Beach.

No local player or doubles team has won a CIF Southern Section Individuals title since Laguna Beach’s Claire Rietsch and Lyndsay Kinstler won the doubles in 2005.

CdM’s Friedman wins Junior Sectionals doubles title

CdM freshman Lauren Friedman didn’t quite make it to the Individuals tournament after placing third in the league in singles. But Friedman did pick up a big win in junior tennis last weekend.

Friedman and partner Cindy Ung of Eastvale won the 115th annual Jim Hillman Southern California Junior Sectionals Doubles Championships, in the 14s. Top-seeded Friedman and Ung beat No. 2-seeded Iris Berman of Los Angeles and Kaia Wolfe of San Clemente in the title match 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 on Sunday at Los Caballeros Racquet & Sports Club in Fountain Valley.

The win is the biggest of Friedman’s junior tennis career, her dad Andy said in an email. The tournament is a Level 1 tournament, the highest offered in Southern California.

For CdM, Friedman, at 5 feet 11, has been playing at No. 3 doubles with senior Brooke Kenerson.

Sage Hill boys’ water polo holding alumni game Wednesday

The Sage Hill boys’ water polo program will be holding its first alumni game on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.

The game is being organized by first-year head coach Pavle Filipovic and Lightning alumni Cameron Cline and Danny Harold. It’s scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Sage Hill pool.

Depending on attendance, the format will likely be a couple of quarters of alumni against current players, then a few mixed quarters.

To RSVP or for more information, contact Filipovic at [email protected].

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