A lot of interesting tennis going on now that league play and the All-American Tournament have happened.

Teams are starting to round into form and a lot of top 10 teams have already squared off.

Here’s a look at what’s going on and a few nuggets of info from around the county:

1. It looks like there are a few heavy singles hitters on teams that are flying under the radar. Here are the top three singles players, whose teams are not ranked in the top 10.

Orange Lutheran’s Kaitlyn Christian, I hear she is undefeated and tearing through the competition routinely posting 6-0 scores for the Lancers.

Beckman’s Megan Heneghan is another undefeated star. Wish I had an overall record for the Patriots No. 1 singles player.

Newport Harbor’s Nelly Radeva rumor has it she might be the best singles player in the county.

2. For the first time all season long there will be a new No. 1 team in the county. Corona del Mar will likely earn that honor after beating previously unbeaten and reigning CIF champions Dana Hills, 11-7.

I got an interesting e-mail that said Danielle Kaiden and Lindsay Zotovich are a rare commodity because they started off playing doubles as freshmen and have continued to do so as seniors. The duo beat the Dolphins Leyla Simmons and Victoria Wing, 6-2, who many considered to be the No. 1 doubles team in CIF after going undefeated the past two seasons.

Well, it looks like that’s another honor that now belongs to the Sea Kings.

3. No. 3 University (9-1) defeated No. 9 Laguna Beach (15-4), 11-7.

The doubles competition seemed to be the difference in this one as the Trojans took seven of the nine sets. The Breakers Alex Tachovsky swept her sets (6-3, 6-0, 6-2).

The Trojans are quietly putting together a nice little season; I hear they were missing quite a few girls at the All-American Tory which explains their poor showing.

Laguna Beach bounced back to beat Godniez, 18-0, and remain undefeated in league at 5-0. The sister duo of Maddie and Claire Jaeger both swept their singles competition with all their scores being 6-0.

4. No. 4 Valencia (10-1) defeated No. 8 El Dorado, 13-5.

The Tigers took seven of the nine doubles sets over the Golden Hawks.

Valencia was just a dominant in the singles department winning six of nine.

"We are beginning to get more balance between our strong singles play and our improving doubles play,” Valencia coach Mike McCall said. “The girls feel good about the progress they are making."

 5. The best non-top 10 matchup of the week came when Newport Harbor defeated Esperanza (8-3), 11-7.

The Sailors Nelly Radeva put on a tennis clinic winning all of her sets 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.

The win gave Newport Harbor command of the Sunset League with a 4-0 record.

The Aztecs improved their record to 3-1 in league with a 12-6 win over Fountain Valley.

No. 1 singles player Bianca Modoc went 5-1 over the course of the week for Valencia.

6. Good coaching can get their team a win when the score is close. That’s what happened when Orange Lutheran (8-4) got an upset win over Mater Dei, 9-9 (winning on games 72-71).

Games don’t get any closer than this nailbitter.

The difference in the match might have been the two close sets the Monarchs No. 3 doubles team Amber Guzman and Annie Castner lost, 7-6, 7-5.

The Lancer remained undefeated in the Trinity League by sweping her singles matches against Mater Dei 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.

7. No. 6 Troy keeps rolling along in the Freeway League after picking up wins against Sonora, 15-3, and Fullerton, 11-7.

The Trojans are undefeated and in sole possession of first place with a 5-0 record.

8. No. 7 Northwood (10-2) are in prime position to win the Sea View League title with wins over Huntington Beach, 14-4, and Foothill, 16-2.

The Timberwolves are undefeated at 5-0.

“Once again our singles came through for us in a big way at Huntington Beach and at Foothill,” Northwood coach Eric Keith said.

“Overall this was a good week for us as we completed the first round of Sea View League play. We now begin the second round playing each team again. Our big match will be next week when we play Woodbridge. We tied them 9-9 the first time we played them at their place and now we will try once again at home.”

Courtney Pattugalan and Melissa Kan both won all four of their sets for Northwood this week.

9. Today the second biggest match of the week took place No. 5 St. Margaret’s and No. 10 Sage Hill. The winner of this game will likely take home the Academy League title as well. I was at this game and the Tartans had the lead when I left, 4-2 after the first round. By the looks of things Sage Hill was going to win most of the singles competition and St. Margaret’s was rolling on the doubles side. Check back tomorrow for the winner of this match.

10. Here are some of the bigger matchups for next week: Woodbridge at Northwood and University at Laguna Hills, both games will be played on Thursday. Things could get interesting if either top 10 falters.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.