Mater Dei’s Esmero Loses in Singles Final

It took San Marino junior Luana Magnani three attempts, but she finally won a Southern Section final. Magnani, who lost in the doubles final as a freshman and the singles final last year, won the singles title Friday with a methodical 6-2, 6-2 victory over Mater Dei senior Melissa Esmero at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.

“I was hoping this was the year,” said Magnani, who didn’t drop a set during the two-day, four-match tournament.

Magnani lost in the singles final last year to Oxnard Rio Mesa’s Tiffany Brymer, but she was never in danger of losing to Esmero, who lost to Magnani in last year’s semifinals.

“We have a little bit of a rivalry going,” Magnani said. “We’ve been playing each other since we were 10. You want to beat the person for respect. So I wanted this one a little more than my other matches. And I played my best against her.”

Esmero’s only serious chance to get into the match came in the second set, when she led 2-1 and had a break point on Magnani’s serve. But Esmero missed an overhead badly and never threatened again.

“I had some opportunities,” Esmero said. “But I need to work on my execution of finishing the points.”

Esmero’s execution wasn’t helped by the fact that she played a two-hour 15-minute match in the morning against Magnani’s teammate, Andrea Yung. Esmero beat Yung, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Meanwhile, Magnani had an easy time with Temecula Chaparral’s Catherine Heppell, winning, 6-1, 6-3.

Esmero, who will play next season at USC, took the loss well.

“It was a good ending to my high school career,” she said. “Another chapter closes. I gave it my all.”

Magnani has several options awaiting her. She is considering graduating a semester early and playing at USC or UCLA next year. But she might also stay in school and play another year of high school tennis.

In the doubles final, Sandra and Carla Rocha of Claremont became the third sister team to win the title, beating Woodbridge’s top-seeded team of Adriana Hockicko and Evangalina Soriano, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The Rochas, who won all four matches in three sets, defeated the top three seeded teams.

In the round of 16, they knocked off third-seeded Jamie Pagliano and Cheyne Ursich of Palos Verdes Peninsula. In the semifinals Friday morning, they beat second-seeded Kristen Case and Jenny Meyer of Newport Harbor, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

Sandra, a freshman, and Carla, a junior, bickered like sisters often do. But they didn’t let it get in the way of winning.

Hockicko, a senior, was aiming for her second consecutive doubles title. Last year, she won with Danielle Hustedt, who is now playing at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Soriano, a sophomore, played with other partners during the season, then teamed up with Hockicko in the postseason.

The duo fought off two match points in the semifinals to beat Dana Hills’ Kady Pooler and Chelsy Thompson, 3-6, 7-6 (6-3), 6-3.

“We were really tight when we had the match points,” Thompson said. “Instead of trying to win the points, we played not to lose.”

Hockicko and Soriano kept their momentum going for a set against the Rochas, but they fell behind early in the second set and never regained control.