Sea King duo advances

Chris Yemma

The Corona del Mar High doubles team of Jill Damion and Allie Walters

was operating on cruise control Thursday in the CIF Southern Section

individual girls tennis championships.

Top-seeded Damion and Walters swept Troy’s Jennifer Chow and Erica

Liao, 6-0, 6-2, in the round of 16 at the Mesa Verde Country Club in

Costa Mesa, and swept Beverly Hills’ Tessa Tran and Anna Litovsky,

6-4, 6-3, in the quarterfinals at SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington

Beach.

The Sea Kings’ duo will be facing third-seeded Amber Harper and

Jen Kaswick of Harvard-Westlake in the semifinals at 10:30 a.m. today at SeaCliff.

The round of 16 and quarterfinals were both originally scheduled

to be played at SeaCliff, but due to renovations being made on a

couple of courts, some of the players had to play the round of 16 at

Mesa Verde.

But the last-minute change didn’t slow the new team. Damion and

Walters have won nine consecutive matches without losing a set since

they started playing together during the Pacific Coast League finals,

which they won.

They also helped lead Corona del Mar to the CIF Division I

semifinals and a No. 3 ranking in CIF. The Sea Kings lost to eventual

champion Calabasas, 11-7, in the semis.

“We were just going into [Thursday’s] match hoping for the best,”

Walters said. “We hoped to win, definitely. I think we have some

pretty good chances [today].”

If the CdM girls win in the semis, they advance to the final later

in the afternoon.

“It was a gutsy effort,” CdM Coach Brian Ricker said after Damion

and Walters defeated the Beverly Hills girls. “That was a good team.

Half of that team made it to the finals last year, so [Tran] is a

good player.

“The sun was tough, they had some unforced errors in the beginning

and they struggled while we held on to it. It’s a good win.”

Today’s competition for the Sea Kings should prove to be a lot

tougher than the first two rounds. Damion and Walters haven’t been

teamed up against the Harvard-Westlake girls, but in the CIF

quarterfinals, Harper and Kaswick swept their sets against the Sea

Kings.

“They will have to step it up [today],” Ricker said. “It’s a team

they haven’t seen so far. They’re highly ranked and have played

together well all year. They’re used to playing together, whereas

[Damion and Walters] aren’t.”

If the Sea Kings’ doubles team advances past Harper and Kaswick,

they will most likely face second-seeded Emily Aston and Stephanie

Chen of Peninsula in the championship match.