Girls’ Tennis: CdM earns top seed

As expected, the Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis team received the No. 1 seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs when brackets were released Monday.

But it was a possible semifinal opponent that had CdM Coach Jamie Gresh upset.

Harvard-Westlake, which had been ranked No. 3 for the past few weeks, got moved down to the No. 4 seed after being ranked there in the final Division 1 top 10 poll. Palos Verdes Peninsula moved up to No. 3.

The Pacific Coast League champion Sea Kings (19-0) beat Peninsula, 12-6, earlier this season. They have not played Harvard-Westlake, but the Wolverines knocked CdM out of the playoffs in the semifinals last season.

Harvard-Westlake moving down to No. 4 didn’t make sense to Gresh. He said after talking to CIF Southern Section Assistant Commissioner Rainer Wulf, who is in charge of tennis, he was told that the commitee deemed Harvard-Westlake’s loss to Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks on Sept. 29 worse than Peninsula’s loss to Palos Verdes on Oct. 24. Palos Verdes ended the season ranked No. 2 in Division 2, while Notre Dame was No. 6.

Wulf said in an email that complete review of division schedules was only possible at the seeding meeting, and final polls in tennis often see changes as a result. He said the committee discussed the late switch and felt it was justified to make it, and added that he felt Peninsula had a better strength of schedule that should be rewarded.

Gresh, however, was upset.

“In the ninth hour, they decided to change the three and the four [seeds],” Gresh said. “I’ve never seen anything like that, so I don’t really know what to say. You can honestly imagine what’s going to come out of my mouth right now. They have no answer, and it is what it is, the draw’s that way.

“The rankings have been this way for four straight weeks, and then this week’s different, right before the seedings come out for the tournament? I mean, it’s super-fishy. I said to the commissioner, ‘Every loss has been accounted for.’ He tried to tell me that not all the coaches had submitted all their data. I said, ‘No, no, everything has been submitted, you guys changed it at the last minute.’”

Of course, CdM has to get to the semifinals first. The Sea Kings play host to the winner of Tuesday’s Division 1 wild-card match between Mater Dei and Tesoro on Wednesday at 2 p.m. Possible opponents in Friday’s second round are either Fountain Valley or Dos Pueblos.

League singles champion Jasie Dunk and finalist Danielle Willson lead the Sea Kings, as does the league doubles finalist duo of Camellia Edalat and Brooke Kenerson.

“I think we’re playing good tennis,” Gresh said. “We’ve played 19 matches, so we’re definitely battle-tested and ready to go. Our kids have [Tuesday] off, so they get a little time to rest and relax and get ready for playoffs Wednesday. There’s a lot of good tennis to be played, and we’re excited about the next two weeks and the upcoming journey.”

Fountain Valley (11-7), the second-place team from the Sunset League, has to travel to Channel League champion Dos Pueblos of Goleta for its first-round match Wednesday.

In other Division 1 first-round matches, Orange Coast League champion Laguna Beach (12-7) plays host to Pacific Coast League runner-up University. Sage Hill (14-1), the Academy League champion, plays at South Coast League champion San Clemente.

Newport Harbor (11-8), which finished third in the Sunset League, played at Northwood in a Division 1 wild-card match Tuesday.

Estancia (8-10), the third-place team from the Orange Coast League, played at Academy League third-place team Oxford Academy in a Division 3 wild-card match Tuesday.