Sea Kings cruise into final

CALABASAS — Holding a bottle of water in her hands, Jill Damion felt like celebrating.

Her Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis team had just completed its second go-round against Calabasas and was already up 10-2, clinching a spot in the CIF Southern Section Division I championship match.

But with one individual match left, Damion couldn’t really spray the bottle anywhere, instead deciding to loosen the cap a bit and throw it over the tennis court wall. It went to the feet of teammates and fellow seniors Hayley and Miranda Young, causing mist to spray out and get them slightly wet.

The Young twins, Hayley and Miranda, usually reserved, couldn’t help but smile a little.

After four straight years of losing in the playoff semifinals, the Sea Kings were headed to the championships. They eventually beat Calabasas, 14-4, in the Division I semifinals Thursday.

CdM, the top seed, will play Troy (21-2) in the Division I title match Monday at 10 a.m. at the Claremont Club. The Sea Kings haven’t won the CIF girls’ tennis title since 2001.

“I’m really proud of the way the girls got better at the end of the season,” Sea Kings Coach Brian Ricker said. “I wasn’t sure if other teams would get better and we’d stay the same, but everyone’s improving. It’s a great experience. I feel happy for the seniors.”

Calabasas (22-1) had beaten CdM (23-0) in the Division I semifinals in 2004, Ricker’s first year as coach. This time, the Coyotes again came out firing.

The Youngs and teammates Lindsay Zotovich and Melissa Matsuoka in doubles, as well as Cierra Gaytan-Leach in singles, all easily won their first sets.

However, Damion and Corona del Mar No. 3 singles player Hailey Hogan both were involved in dogfights.

Damion, up 5-2 against Erin Weisner, lost three consecutive games to take the set to 5-all. But Damion stayed calm, holding serve then breaking Weisner in a deuce game for the 7-5 win.

“She’s one of my really good friends,” Damion said. “I’ve played her at least 10 times in juniors, and never lost to her. I feel like today, I let the people watching get in my head and started playing bad. I don’t feel like I played all that well today, but I sucked it up and managed to win that last game.”

Hogan, meanwhile, went to a tiebreaker. Up 5-3, she lost three consecutive points, giving opponent Brittany Harper a match point at 6-5. But Hogan stayed calm, winning three consecutive points of her own to take the tiebreaker, 8-6.

“Jill and Hailey’s first wins were both big,” Ricker said. “Up 5-1, we take a little air out of their sails, versus 3-3 and it’s a close match.”

The Young twins remembered the match against Calabasas two years ago. But, Thursday, they easily won their three sets at No. 1 doubles, 6-0, 6-1 and 6-3, against one of the few Division I elite teams that the Sea Kings hadn’t faced this season.

“Our team is so solid that we feel confident coming into every match, but we didn’t know what to expect,” Hayley Young said. “They did surprise us a little bit. But it was a good, clean match today, and it was a lot of fun to actually beat them. We had a really bad experience the first time we played them [in the 2004 semifinals].”

Gaytan-Leach said it was just a matter of staying focused.

“We knew if we just brought our game, we could win,” she said. “We knew it was going to be nerve-wracking, and they were a tough team, but if we stayed focused we would win. That’s what we did today; we kept our minds on winning.”

Just as they have all season, the Sea Kings displayed their dominance Thursday.

Corona del Mar has clinched victory within the match’s first two rounds in all but one of their wins this season.

“It takes a lot of pressure off; it’s a lot easier,” Gaytan-Leach said. “We’re really lucky to have a great team this year.”

But doubles substitutes Danielle Kaiden and Flora Lee accentuated the win in the third round with a 6-4 victory, giving the Sea Kings their 14th point.

“Everyone played really well,” Damion said. “It was kind of distracting at first because they had all these people cheering for them and just being loud and obnoxious. For everyone to overcome that and still manage to win was really impressive. We’re all just really excited.”

Ricker, who was previously the Laguna Beach girls’ tennis coach, said he had lost in the Division I semifinals for four consecutive years between the Breakers and Sea Kings combined.

He also said his team will be ready on Monday.

“I like our chances if we go in there and play our game, and stay focused,” Ricker said.

CIF Division I

Semifinal

CdM 14, Calabasas 4

Singles -- Damion (CdM) def. Weisner, 7-5, def. Ashforth, 6-0, lost to B. Harper, 2-6; Gaytan-Leach (CdM) won, 6-1, 6-0, 6-4; Hogan (CdM) lost, 3-6, def. (sub) Stern (Cala), 6-1, won, 7-6 (8-6).

Doubles -- H. Young-M. Young (CdM) def. Chang-Fernandez, 6-0, def. Schnitman-T. Harper, 6-1, def. Mansong-Hing-Chang, 6-3; Zotovich-Matsuoka (CdM) won, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1; Ishii-Atkins (CdM) lost, 5-7, (sub) Kaiden-Lee (CdM) won, 6-4, Ishii-Atkins lost, 2-6.