1. Faith Baptist

2. Windward

3. Santa Clarita Christian

4. Avalon

5. Thacher

6. Sierra Canyon

7. Hesperia Christian

8. Calvary Chapel/MV

9. Montclair Prep

10. Excelsior Education Center

Division II

1. Big Pine

2. Desert Chapel

3. Trona

4. Rolling Hills Prep

5. North County Christian

6. Hope Centre Academy

7. Lighthouse Christian

8. Southlands Christian

9. Cuyama Valley

10. Desert Christian/BD

Thanks to the efforts of parents and coaches around the county these girls are getting the publicity they deserve.

Valencia has been consistently good all season long and that has kept this team in the top 10 rankings.

Here are 10 things I know about girls tennis around the county:

1. Its fun when an unranked team gets an upset win over ranked team. There has been a lot of this happening lately. For example: Woodbridge beat Laguna Hills, Northwood beat Santa Margarita, Mater Dei beat Sage Hill and El Dorado beat Esperanza.

2. There is a complicated formula to get into the top 10 of the girls tennis standings. A lot of variables come into play. Here are a few of them: strength of schedule, overall record and how many ranked or quality teams have you beaten? Want a quick way to get into the top 10, beat a ranked team.

3. It seems that there are three tiers in tennis: tier 1 (Dana Hills and Corona del Mar), tier 2 (University, Valencia and Troy – when healthy and fully loaded) and tier 3 (everyone else).

4. Here two ranked teams on the rise in tier 3: Northwood (might be one of the better teams in this tier – at least more consistent and not scared to play quality teams) and El Dorado (some people thought they were really down this year, but a quality win over Esperanza proved otherwise).

5. Now the flip side – here is a ranked team on the decline in their 3: Mater Dei (already lost twice this week to Northwood and Los Alamitos – although there was some shady business with this one sending its Junior Varsity team).

6. There are quite a few quality teams outside of the top 10 that are ready to break in, all they need is a big win: Laguna Beach (6-1 overall, could do so with a win over University next week), Newport Harbor (6-3 overall, had a big win against Troy this week) and Los Alamitos (might be better than most people had anticipated).

7. There are also some teams that win and lose some big games, all they need to do is be a little more consistent: Santa Margarita (lost to Troy and beat Laguna Hills as well as Los Alamitos), Esperanza (lost to El Dorado and has beaten everyone else), Sage Hill (lost to Mater Dei and beat Woodbridge, 11-7, Newport Harbor, 12-6, and Los Alamitos, 11-7), and Laguna Hills (lost to Santa Margarita and beat Mission Viejo, 11-4, and Tesoro, 10-8).

8. Capistrano Valley has an interesting team. The Cougars might be the kings of tier 4, if there was one. Despite losing to all of them, I like that they are not scared of going up against some of the better teams in the county (Laguna Beach, Newport Harbor, St. Margaret’s and Dana Hills). In fact Capo might have one of the toughest schedules in the county. A tough nonleague schedule should prepare the Cougars for a league and another return to CIF playoffs.

9. If you make the effort, then I will make the effort. Here are few scores that have been reported: Corona del Mar defeated Laguna Hills, 12-6, Laguna Beach beat Calvary Chapel, 14-4, Northwood beat Trabuco Hills, 18-0, Esperanza beat Marina, 14-4, Sage Hills beat Calvary Chapel, 16-2, and Valencia beat Pacifica, 16-2. Don’t mean to be picky, but it would be nice to get overall records as well, only one that reported theirs was the Lightning (7-1).

10. The best game of the young season is finally upon us and I will be there to cover it. No. 2 Corona del Mar will be on the road against No. 3 University on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Here is how I see it playing out: The Sea Kings will win the doubles match-up and the Trojans will be victorious on the singles end. The key will be the games scores within the match and someone will have to find a way to get an upset victory, maybe a No. 3 over a No. 2 in singles.

What's up with DC switching my name every other week, first it was AC (not sure he liked the similarity to DC), then after consecutive 7-1 pick weeks it was "the expert," and now he is going with my middle name Angel.  Just pick one already!

I'm predicting another 6-2 record for me this week, someone always pulls off the upset, and this is how I see it all playing out.

1.  Villa Park vs. Sunny Hills - The Spartans will ride the momentum from their win against Trabuco Hills with another one over Sunny Hills, 24-14.

2.  Century vs. Saddleback - The Roadrunners are more likely to score than the Centurions, although they do have a win. Consider the 14 game losing snapped for Saddleback this week, 24-17.  I'm calling this one an upset alert.

3.  JSerra vs. Pacifica - Don't know how good JSerra and Pacifica really are just yet, but the home team has to be favored here. The Lions will by a hair, 28-21.  Risky pick, but this would not be fun if I didn't swing for the fence here and there.

4.  Los Alamitos vs. La Habra - Everyone knows about the big injury here. Both teams have explosive offenses. The Griffins are still just a higher caliber team, 35-21.

5. Tustin vs. Western - The Tillers run defense has been really impressive, holding each of their opponents under 100 yards, and that's Western's specialty. Tustin also has a healthy Anthony Wilkerson in its backfield so expect a close win, 21-14.  Check out my column that I will post up tomorrow on this game.

6. Anaheim vs. Loara - I still think Loara's Anthony Bautista is a good runningback and a difference maker. That's why the Saxons will win this one, 24-21.

7. Dana Hills vs. Newport Harbor - The Sailors can match the Dolphins on offense. Only difference is Newport Harbor has a superior defense, 35-21.

8. Edison vs. Mater Dei - This really is a coin flip, so I actually tossed one up in the air. Heads its the Monarchs and tails its the Chargers, the quarter landed on heads. Mater Dei it is then, 42-35.

Dana Hills remains atop the standings a year after capturing a CIF-SS Division I title.

Typically a tennis week is divided in two sections, Monday and Tuesday games with a day off on Wednesday followed by more games on Thursday and Friday.

Here is a look at the first half of this week’s games.

No. 2 Corona del Mar (6-0) defeated Peninsula, 12-6.

On Monday the Sea Kings, who are ranked No. 2 in the CIF Division I poll, slugged it out with their rival Peninsula, ranked No. 6, on the road.

Both teams are known for producing top notch doubles teams.

That’s why it was impressive to hear that Corona del Mar won eight of the nine doubles sets.

The Sea Kings top two doubles teams Karen Ishii/Kellie Feeley and Danielle Kaiden Lindsay Zotovich remained undefeated for the season, sweeping the Panthers in all three sets.

Singles player Katelyn Nguyen battled through a cold to win two of her three sets.

Elizabeth Nguyen and Paige Polizois also picked up victories for the Sea Kings.

No. 8 Northwood (4-1) defeated No. 9 Mater Dei, 12-6.

A pair of young guns squared off at the Los Cab Tennis Center with Northwood living up to its billing as the No. 8 team in the county.

The Timberwolves swept the first round, 6-0, with Courtney Pattugalan win highlighting the action in a No. 1 singles matchup against the Monarchs Neta Ghassemi, 6-3.

Northwood’s No. 1 doubles team, Samantha Greenberg and Emilee Randolph, squeaked out a 7-5 win.

Mater Dei took two sets, one singles and one doubles, but still came out of the second round trailing 10-2.

Things got a little better for the Monarchs when Northwood brought in six new players for the final round, winning 4-2.

“I though that it was important to give the girls as much experience as possible,” Northwood coach Eric Keith said.

“You never know when they are going to be needed to step in.”

The Timberwolves got a nice surprise when No. 2 singles player Melissa Kan defeated Ghassemi, 6-4, in the final round and ultimately swept all three of her sets.

“Overall, it was a good day. The girls played well against a quality opponent and showed some toughness,”

“This was our first true away match of the season and I was curious to see how they would do. I was very impressed.”

Unranked Newport Harbor (6-3) defeated No. 4 Troy (1-4), 13-5.

The Sailor took advantage of a short handed Warriors squad.

Troy played without the services of Tseng Frances, No. 1 singles player, and Allison Radde, No. 1 doubles player.

Newport Harbor didn’t squander this golden opportunity to get back into the top 10 standings.

“The bottom line, they were more aggressive and played the important points better than we did in a number of close doubles matches that theoretically could have gone either way,” Troy coach Donna Judd said.

OTHER SCORES IN THE COUNTY:

Los Alamitos defeated Mater Dei, 15-3

This match might have been closer if the Monarch hadn’t sent their Junior Varsity to this match.

Apparently Mater Dei double-booked matches on Tuesday and decided not to tell Los Alamitos.

Esperanza (4-2) defeated Rosary, 14-4

The Aztecs' top singles players Bianca Modoc (6-0, 6-2, 6-2) and Melanie Abella (6-2, 6-0, 6-0) swept their matches. As did Esperanza’s top doubles team, Thanh Doan and Tammy Do (7-5, 6-0, 6-3), and No. 3 team, Sam Nielsen and Jessie Wackerman (7-5, 6-1, 6-1).

Laguna Beach (6-1) defeated Godinez, 18-0

Nearly everyone on the Breakers swept their matches and didn’t allow the Grizzlies to win a game.

The lone exception was Laguna Beach’s No. 2 doubles team, which allowed two points against Godinez's No. 1 team, 6-2.

This was the opening game of the Orange Coast League.

San Clemente (1-2) beat Tesoro, 12-6

The Titans dominated the singles match up winning five of the six games. But the Tritons controlled the match by winning eight of the 12 doubles games.

This was the season opener for the Horizon League.

Santa Margarita (2-1) defeated Laguna Hills (1-2), 10-8

This had to be the best match of the day between two teams just outside the top 10 rankings.

The Golden Hawks won six of the eight singles matches, while the Eagles handled their business by winning seven of the 10 doubles matches for the win.

Ocean View (2-1) edged Segerstrom (1-2), 11-7

The Jaguars swept the doubles competition, 7-0, but the Seahawks managed to capture the victory by winning nine of the 11 singles games.

This was the season opener for the Golden West League.

1. Faith Baptist

2. Windward

3. Santa Clarita

4. Avalon

5. Thacher

6. Montclair Prep

7. Hesperia Christian

8. Joshua Springs

9. Sierra Canyon

10. Lone Pine

Division II

1. Big Pine

2. Desert Chapel

3. Rolling Hills Prep

4. Trona

5. Hope Centre Academy

6. Lighthouse Christian

7. Cuyama Valley

8. California Lutheran

9. North County Christian

10. Southlands Christian

2. St. Paul 2-1

3. Quartz Hills 3-0

4. Santa Monica 3-0

5. Palmdale 2-1

6. St. Francis 3-0

7. Culver City 3-0

8. Paramount 3-0

9. Gahr 2-2

10. Lynwood 2-0-1

2. Charter Oak 3-0-1

3. California 3-0

4. Santa Fe 2-1

5. Muir 2-1

6. West Covina 3-1

7. La Serna 3-0

8. Bonita 3-1

9. Glendale 3-0

10. Burroughs/Burbank 2-1

2. Serra 3-0

3. Santa Clara 3-0

4. Torrance 2-0

5. Harvard/Westlake 1-0-1

6. North Torrance 3-0

7. Cathedral 3-0

8. Morro Bay 2-0

9. Pioneer Valley 3-0

10. El Segundo 2-1

2. Newbury Park 3-0

3. Thousand Oaks 3-0

4. Westlake 2-1

5. Moorpark 2-1

6. Saugus 2-1

7. Oxnard 3-0

8. Valencia/Valencia 2-1

9. Lompoc 4-0

10. Paso Robles 3-1

2. South El Monte 2-1

3. Valley Christian 3-1

4. Northview 2-1

5. Monrovia 2-2

6. Azusa 3-1

7. San Marino 3-0

8. Rosemead 2-1

9. Los Angeles Baptist 3-1

10. Whittier Christian 2-2