Woodbridge Beats No. 4 Dana Hills

Second-ranked Woodbridge survived its first real test of the girls’ tennis season, defeating fourth-ranked Dana Hills, 11-7, Tuesday on the Dolphins’ court.

The Warriors (4-0) got singles sweeps from its top two players, Susanna Lingman and Adrianna Hockicko, and a doubles sweep from the No. 1 team of Michelle Stiefel and Evangelina Soriano.

Lingman’s first-set victory over Amy Tranckino might have been the key to the Warriors’ victory. She trailed Tranckino, 5-2, but came back to win the next five games, giving the Warriors a 4-2 lead after the first round.

Lingman battled a cold and sore throat, but Tranckino made most of the mistakes.

“I was feeling tired in the first part,” she said, coughing. “Maybe my medicine kicked in after that. I just decided I was going to give it all my energy and I wasn’t going to worry about homework and all those other things. [Tranckino] played a good match. I think she might have gotten a little nervous at the end.”

There appeared to be no nerves from Soriano, a freshman transfer from Florida who showed up two days before school began. Soriano and Stiefel won, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

“We’re glad to have her out there,” Woodbridge Coach Joan Willett said. “Evangelina’s a deadeye.”

Willett figured the Warriors had an advantage in singles, and they did, winning seven of nine sets. But she was worried about her doubles teams.

“Dana Hills always has good, well-coached doubles teams,” Willett said. “We had played some good doubles so far, but this was our first time playing a classy team.”

Dana Hills (3-2) has lost to the top two teams in the county, Corona del Mar and Woodbridge.

“I know they’re a good team, I also thought we could have won this match,” Tranckino said. “They just played better than us.”

Especially in close sets. Dana Hills lost one set 7-6 and three others at 7-5.