PREP TENNIS / SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : Weiss Doesn’t Play Around in Laguna Beach’s Victory

Lindsay Weiss admits she took the Southern Section playoffs for granted her first three years at Laguna Beach. But this year Weiss knows she has a chance to win four section team titles and is taking the playoffs a lot more seriously.

So before she took the court Saturday for Laguna Beach’s playoff opener against unseeded Canyon, Weiss wasn’t so relaxed.

“This is the first match in all four years here where I’ve been nervous,” she said. “I want to win so bad and I know the rest of the team does too.”

As it turned out, Weiss had no reason to be nervous. She swept her singles sets, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0, and her team cruised to a 12-6 victory at Laguna Beach High. Top-seeded Laguna Beach (18-3) led, 5-1, after one round and, 8-4, after two rounds against Canyon (11-6), which won only one of nine singles sets.

The Artists will face Los Alamitos in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

“I think this will be our toughest tournament,” Weiss said. “I think this is the strongest team we’ve had, but everyone else has gotten a lot better.”

Canyon Coach Rick Trager said his team simply didn’t match up against Laguna Beach.

“They’ve got depth in doubles and singles,” he said. “I kept putting fingers in the dikes, but it was useless.”

Michelle Bray, who along with doubles player Sarah Cohen are the only seniors on the team, also won her three singles sets, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0.

Three more victories and Laguna Beach will have won four consecutive section titles.

In Division II:

Diamond Bar 11, Edison 7--Nichole Kojima swept, 6-3, 6-0, 6-1, in singles and Tamie Demaree and Cerissa Drumm, 7-6, 6-4, 7-5, in doubles for Edison (9-3).

Los Alamitos 16, La Crescenta Crescenta Valley 2--Danielle Brandlin swept her singles, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0, to lead Los Alamitos to the second-round victory.

Villa Park 11, University 7--Faye DeVera swept her singles, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, and Katey Becker also swept her singles, 6-1-, 6-1, 6-0, for second-seeded Villa Park (17-0) in the second round. Villa Park will face Diamond Bar in the quarterfinals.

In Division III:

El Dorado 18, Sunny Hills 0--Amanda Oldridge swept at No. 1 singles for top-seeded El Dorado (21-1), 6-2, 6-1, 6-0. Teammate Michelle Weisz also swept, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1.