Lynn falls in Junior Sectionals title match

On a very warm Monday morning, Rebecca Lynn slugged it out from the baseline with Midori Castillo.

Lynn is 12 years old, and Castillo is 13. But their games are bigger than their ages might suggest. Neither girl lost a set on her way to the championship match.

So it makes sense that Lynn, a Newport Beach resident, would meet Chula Vista’s Castillo for the girls’ 14s title at the 115th annual Southern California Junior Sectionals tennis tournament.

On this day, No. 2-seeded Castillo was just a little bit more consistent. She walked away with her second Junior Sectionals title after beating top-seeded Lynn, 6-2, 6-4, in the title match at Los Caballeros Racquet & Sports Club.

“It means a lot to me,” said Castillo, who also won the 10s title at Junior Sectionals three years ago. “It represents being No. 1 in all of Southern California. It’s a big win to me.

“It was tough. Rebecca’s a great opponent and she makes me work double the hardest. I just try to be aggressive, and I work every single point. It was really tough to break her, because she has a great serve and she’s really aggressive from the baseline.”

The majority of the games in the match went to deuce, every point important. But Castillo was able to break Lynn’s serve three times in the first set, including in the final game of the set.

Lynn dug in for the second set. It seemed destined for a tiebreaker, with both girls holding serve all the way until 4-5.

But in that game, Castillo was able to earn another break, and this one won her the championship.

“I mean, I missed a lot in the beginning, but she hit some good shots as well,” Lynn said. “She’s very aggressive and she runs really fast.

“[Playing in my first Junior Sectionals] was just a good experience. Everyone I played was super-good.”

Tennis didn’t stop there for Lynn, who moved to Southern California from Denver about a year ago. After the match, she was headed to UC Irvine for a summer camp along with her younger brother.

Lynn will also play in the “Little Mo” tournament this weekend at The Tennis Club Newport Beach.

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In other local action from the tournament Monday, Newport Coast’s Roxy MacKenzie won the consolation championship in the girls’ 16s.

MacKenzie defeated Chloe Bendetti of Pacific Palisades, 6-4, 2-6, 10-7, for her fifth straight win in the back draw.

MacKenzie will be a junior at Corona del Mar High in the fall.

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