Single-Minded Harvard-Westlake Defeats Laguna Hills, 10-8

It was over at the Southern Section Division III girls’ tennis final before the doubles teams finished playing their second-round sets at the Claremont Club.

The singles players from North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake blew through the Laguna Hills lineup in just more than an hour, leading the second-seeded Wolverines to a 10-8 victory and their third title this decade.

Stephanie Berg , Jessica Leek and Alexandra Maclennan dropped only two games in singles, for nine quick points, which added to Chelsea Dillion and Chelsea Heller’s first-round doubles victory, gave the Wolverines (16-1-1) all the points they needed.

“They really surprised us,” Laguna Hills sophomore Erina Hung said. “They’ve improved a lot since last season.”

Laguna Hills upset Harvard-Westlake in last year’s semi-finals on the way to its first title.

Knowing the Wolverines’ only loss of the season was to Palos Verdes Peninsula, which won the Division I title earlier Monday, Laguna Hills Coach Linda Merritt shuffled her lineup in hopes of strengthening the overall balance of her unseeded team. She moved Hung and sophomore Tricia Lee from singles into doubles, which gained the Hawks six points in doubles, but the singles had nothing left.

Even if senior Jamie Lautenschlager and junior Megan Davies hadn’t lost their first-round doubles match to Dillion and Heller, 6-0, the Wolverines would still have easily won a tiebreaker on games. Hung and senior partner Jen Hertz finished 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 and Lee and senior Michelle Ehrensberger won 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. Lautenschlager and Davies finished 0-6, 6-2, 6-4.

“I really didn’t know what to expect today,” Merritt said. “I knew their team had a lot of depth and I knew their doubles were strong. We just needed to go in a little stronger. But, we’re glad just to have gotten this far.”