Laguna’s dynamic duo

Rietsch, Kinstler team up to win the doubles title at the CIFSouthern Section Individual Tennis Championships.The accolades keep rolling in for the 2005 Laguna Beach High girls’ tennis team.

Two weeks after laying claim to a CIF-Southern Section team championship, Claire Rietsch and Lyndsay Kinstler carried the Laguna banner all the way to the finals of the CIF-SS Individual Tennis Championships at Seal Beach Tennis Center.

The duo reached Friday’s title match in doubles play, then won the tournament.

“We knew there’d be some good competition at the tournament, but we just thought we could take it,” Kinstler said. “We felt we had a great shot.”

Kinstler and Rietsch were more than on their game during Friday’s final.

Rietsch, a senior, and Kinstler, a junior, defeated Tania Mahtani and Akane Kitamura of Peninsula, 6-2, 7-5, in the doubles final.

On Dec. 21, Laguna had defeated top-ranked Peninsula, 10-8, to win the Division I team championship.

Rietsch and Kinstler also won the Pacific Coast League doubles title on Nov. 7.

Rietsch concludes her career at Laguna carrying a lot of hardware. As a freshman and junior, she won the Pacific Coast League singles titles. She capped it this year with three more titles: league and CIF doubles and CIF Division I team.

“It’s really a nice way to end my senior year,” Rietsch said. “It’s been great to be a part of this team because everybody really got along, and it was great having Greg [Weiss] as a coach. We had a lot of depth all the way down the lineup.

“Personally, I accomplished what I had hoped to do in my career here. It was four years of hard work.”

Kinstler was in her first year with the program, having transferred to Laguna from Cornelia Connelly High in Anaheim.

Prior to her first day of school at Laguna in September, Kinstler had just won a national tennis championship to secure a berth at the U.S. Junior Tennis Championships in Flushing, N.Y., site of the U.S. Open.

“It’s been a great few months for me,” she said. “Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for anything better -- going to the Junior U.S. Open, winning CIF Division I, winning doubles. It’s been awesome.

“What made the experience even more special was that all the girls here at Laguna were so great when I joined the team this year. They were really welcoming and helped me out. It’s been a great experience.”Laguna’s Lyndsay Kinstler hits a forehand in doubles play. 20051209ir5mhhknPHOTOS BY MARK DUSTIN / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Laguna Beach’s Claire Rietsch serves during a doubles match with partner Lyndsay Kinstler during tournament play against Troy at Seal Beach Tennis Center on Thursday. The two captured the title. 20051209ir5mh4kn(LA)Laguna’s Lyndsay Kinstler hits a forehand in doubles play. PHOTOS BY MARK DUSTIN / COASTLINE PILOT