San Clemente knocks Newport Harbor out of CIF-SS girls’ tennis playoffs
SAN CLEMENTE — The best vantage point for the No. 1 doubles courts at San Clemente High is atop the adjacent football bleachers.
Fans from both schools watched from there Friday, as the Tritons played host to Newport Harbor in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 second-round playoff match.
Good things happened on that court for Newport Harbor. Kendall Cosenza and Anna Burke finished a sparkling four-year varsity dual match career by sweeping three close sets.
The Sailors got some big doubles wins, but San Clemente was just too strong in singles.
The result was a 12-6 loss that ended the Sailors’ season.
San Clemente (15-2), which shared the South Coast League title with Dana Hills, advances to the quarterfinals. The Tritons will play at No. 2-seeded Corona del Mar in a Division 1 quarterfinal on Monday.
CdM won at Oaks Christian, 12-6, in another second-round match Friday.
San Clemente denied Newport Harbor (18-2) the chance to avenge its only previous loss of the season, which was in the Battle of the Bay match. The Sailors will not play the Sea Kings in the playoffs for the second straight season after losing to them in the second round last year.
The Sailors had beaten San Clemente, 11-7, in a nonleague match earlier in the season. But the Tritons did not have their top singles player, sophomore Lindsay Hung, on that day. Tritons Coach John Stephens said that Hung, the South Coast League singles champion, was out with a back injury.
“We knew that we had to come out lights out in doubles and then fight it out in singles, and see how many points we could get on that end,” Newport Harbor Coach Kristen Case said. “We were prepared. We gave it everything we had today, and San Clemente just played really well.”
Hung, Sami Neilson and Natalie Nasongkhla swept in singles for San Clemente. The closest set was Newport senior Jenn Kingsley against Hung in the second round. Kingsley won three straight games to tie the set at 4-4, but Hung finished off the 6-4 victory.
When the teams played earlier in the season, Newport won four singles sets, sweeping Hung’s replacement.
“I think [getting her back] really shifted their singles dynamic,” Case said. “That makes a huge difference. And I think our singles played very well. We fought hard, and San Clemente’s singles played phenomenal.”
In doubles, Cosenza and Burke swept. They beat Brooklyn Hulse and Stephi Neilson, 7-6 (7-2), and the teams of Jasmine Safavieh and Taylor Bonghi (6-4) and Eve Wyler and Kendall Hawkes (6-3) as well. Elle Zielinski and Olivia Zehnder won twice at No. 2 doubles, and Taryn Anderson and Eva Newsom won once at No. 3 doubles.
But Hulse and Stephi Neilson earned two doubles points, and Safavieh and Bonghi one for San Clemente, which took a 7-5 lead after two rounds and won five sets in the third round.
The Sailors forged a 3-3 tie after a long first round by earning three close doubles victories. First, Zehnder and Zielinski rallied to win the last three games and beat Safavieh and Bonghi, 7-5, at No. 2 doubles. Then, Newport’s Anderson and Newsom earned a 7-5 win at No. 3 doubles.
The No. 1 doubles set was a marathon. San Clemente twice served for the set, but Newport Harbor’s Cosenza and Burke broke each time to force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Cosenza and Burke dominated to earn a 7-6 (7-2) victory and even the match.
The team season may be over, but the Sailors doubles team of Cosenza and Burke, as well as Kingsley, will compete in the CIF Individuals tournament on Nov. 23.
And Case’s team can feel good about its overall season, which included Newport’s first Sunset League title in four years and the No. 2 ranking in Orange County by the Register.
“So many great accomplishments from the beginning to the end,” Case said. “The leadership from the seniors was very strong this year. They knew what this team wanted to do, and they knew what it would take to get there.
“They should be so proud of themselves. They lost only two matches all season long, and to two very strong teams.”
