Top seeds: No. 1 San Marino; No. 2 Valencia of Valencia; No. 3 Pacifica; No. 4 Valencia/P

Best first-round match up: Most of first round matches are undecided pending Tuesday's wildcard results. One potential county match would pit Garden Grove at Valencia.

Other story lines: There haven't been many upsets sprung in this division in years past, and it should play to form again. One note is Pacifica gaining the tiebreaker over Valencia from the Empire League and getting the No. 3 seed. It means Valencia would have to face No. 1 seed San Marino in the semifinals should the Tigers advance that far.

Defending champion: Valencia/P. The Tigers have won three consecutive CIF championships. They enter as the No. 4 seed, and while they will be among the contenders, they are an underdog to grab No. 4.

Division I at a glance

Division II at a glance

Division III at a glance

Division IV at a glance

• Girls tennis playoffs: Division I bracket and wildcards
• Girls tennis playoffs: Division II bracket and wildcards
• Girls tennis playoffs: Division III bracket and wildcards
• Girls tennis playoffs: Division IV bracket and wildcards
• Girls tennis playoffs: Division V bracket and wildcards

Empire League

VALENCIA (2-5, 0-2) VS. KENNEDY (4-3, 1-1)

Where, when: Western High, Thursday, 7 p.m.

Outlook: Valencia’s 13-year playoff-appearance streak is in trouble. The Tigers never really got their offensive bread-and-butter, their running game, going this season. Last week’s loss to Katella was Valencia’s first since joining the Empire League in 2002.

Kennedy had won four in a row before losing to Pacifica last week. Kennedy can score a lot of points, averaging 29 a game, but the Irish give up that many a game, too. Valencia’s defense has been OK, but that Tigers’ offense has not kept pace. Cypress and Pacifica clearly are the league’s top two teams. But who is No. 3? This game will determine that.

Winner: Kennedy

Frankly Fryer: San Clemente vs. Tesoro

Frankly Fryer: Fountain Valley vs. Newport Harbor

Frankly Fryer: Villa Park vs. El Dorado

Frankly Fryer: Orange vs. Segerstrom

Frankly Fryer: Los Alamitos vs. Edison

Frankly Fryer: Mater Dei vs. JSerra

Play the OCVarsity.com football challenge

The Breakers defeated No. 2 Cate, 13-5, to reach the Division IV final. The top-seeded Tigers beat Vista Murrieta, 13-5, to reach the Division III final. Both teams play Wednesday at the Claremont Club.

Laguna Beach upset No. 3 Whitney last Tuesday to reach the semifinals. On Tuesday, they took their crack at No. 2 Cate and succeded in a major way. The Breakers swept the singles sets and were ahead 9-3 after two rounds.

Jake Michaels, Chris Lavery, and Benito Romeo all won their singles sets. Michaels has lost 3 games in his past six sets.

Valencia led visiting Vista Murrieta 11-1 after two rounds before the Tigers subbed out most of their starters. The No. 2 doubles team of Sean DeYoung and Corey Vuong stayed in and completed the sweep.

Laguna Beach is making its first final appearance since 1983. Valencia last played in a CIF final in 1987.

In other scores:

No. 1 University 13, Harvard-Westlake 5: John Huang won all three singles sets, and Matt Siow and Reo Asami each won two before subbing out in Round 3.

No. 2 Thousand Oaks 11, No. 6 Mater Dei 7: The Monarchs were tied at 3 after the opening round and trailed 7-5 after two rounds before falling. Mater Dei won all seven sets in doubles.

More from the boys tennis blog:

• Boys tennis: Who is left standing at CIF individuals
• Boys tennis: CIF individuals singles finished
• Boys tennis: CIF individuals singles Round 3 set to go
• Boys tennis: CIF individuals early doubles results (updated)
• Boys tennis: CIF individuals Round 2 draw
• Boys tennis: CIF individuals more first round singles results
• Boys tennis: CIF individuals early results

Junior Curtis Wu won the singles crown, defeating Sean DeYoung 6-1, 6-2. It was Wu's third consecutive league title.

In doubles, the freshmen pair of Jonathan Hammel and Eddy Kim beat Jason Nguyen and Kevin Paik 6-4, 6-2.

All of the finals participants advance to next Friday's CIF-SS individual tournament.

Valencia begins CIF play with Garden Grove on Thursday. The Tigers are the No. 1 seed in Division III.

More from the boys tennis blog:

• Boys tennis: Latest on Saturday’s playoff situation
• Boys tennis: Top teams in trouble for CIF playoffs?
• Boys tennis: New CIF rankings (May 11)
• Boys tennis: Athlete of the Week
• Boys tennis: CIF playoffs Division V wild card matches
• Boys tennis: CIF playoffs Division V brackets
• Boys tennis: CIF playoffs Division IV brackets

Candace Wu

In February, Candace Wu was handed the CIF State Scholar-Athlete application by her tennis coach.

Wu, a senior at Valencia, filled out the form and sent it off with recommendation letters from her counselor and the school's athletic director.

On Tuesday, Wu found out she was this year’s recipient of the award, which is handed out to one male and female athlete in the state. Wu will receive her award in front of the state senate on June 11. She also gets a $5,000 scholarship.

“I’m definitely really excited,” she said. “I’m shocked. I’m speechless. It’s a great honor to be recognized.”

When Wu arrived home after school Tuesday, she listened to two messages on the family’s answering machine. One was from a representative from CIF delivering the news. The other was from Valencia principal Jim Bell congratulating her on the award.

Wu is the first county state scholar athlete recipient since Capistrano Valley’s Meridith McCall won the award in 2003. Wu is just the third county female prep athlete to receive the honor since 1982. Los Alamitos’ Shay Murphy was named the state scholar athlete in 2002.

“It’s a great honor for her,” Bell said. “By school standards, no one at the three high schools in our district has ever won the award. She played an integral role on three CIF championship teams. She’s a National Merit Finalist. She was one of 170 students accepted to Cal Tech, but she decided to attend Johns Hopkins.”

Wu said the college choice wasn’t easy. In the end she felt Johns Hopkins was a better school to study bio-medical engineering. Wu has a 10-12 grade academic GPA of 4.86. She scored a 2330 on her SAT.

She also finished second in the state at this year’s Chemistry Olympiad, and ended up in third place in the Science Olympiad.
After finding out about winning the award, Wu called her parents, Hua and Lin, to tell them the news.

“They were really excited,” Wu said. “I called Mr. Bell back too. He was really excited. I also called a couple close friends.”

Wu wasn’t expecting much as she filled out her application. She thought about her three CIF titles as part of the girls tennis team and would it be enough.

She also won the Empire League doubles’ championship with partner Natalie McKay. The pair advanced to the CIF-SS individual tournament’s quarterfinals. Wu’s older brother, Curtis, is a junior on the boys tennis team.

“I think without Candace we probably wouldn’t have won any,” Tigers coach Mike McCall said. “She is just a rock. She’s so good in the classroom, I think people underestimate her as a tennis players. She’s outstanding at tennis.
“She’s been the scholar athlete at our school I think for four years in a row. To win it at state is on another level.”

O.C.’s past CIF State Scholar-Athlete award winners (since 1982):
2003: Meridith McCall (Capistrano Valley)
2002: Shay Murphy (Los Alamitos)
1998: Jeffrey Hick (Laguna Hills)
1992: Terry Mann (Sunny Hills)
1986: Todd Gregory French (Canyon)

DIVISION I

1. Norco

2. Hart

3. Canyon

4. Valencia

5. Marina

6. Santiago/Corona

7. Riverside Poly

8. Mater Dei

9. Thousand Oaks

10T. Los Alamitos

10T. El Modena
DIVISION II

1. Vista Murrieta

2. Beckman

3. Laguna Hills

4. Redlands

5. Upland

6. Etiwanda

7. Yucaipa

8. Lakewood

9. California

10. Norwalk
DIVISION III

1. Oaks Christian

2. Tesoro

3. Cajon

4. Crescenta Valley

5. Summit

6. Patriot

7. Chino Hills

8. Ayala

9. Los Altos

10. Bonita
DIVISION IV

1. Ocean View

2. El Segundo

3. St. Joseph’s

4. Santa Monica

5. Segerstrom

6. Aquinas

7. Morro Bay

8. North Torrance

9. Torrance

10. Bishop Montgomery
DIVISION V

1. Calvary Murrieta

2. Woodcrest Christian

3. Riverside Christian

4. Whittier Christian

5. Village Christian

6. San Jacinto

7. San Dimas

8. Sierra Vista

9. Mark Keppel

10. Calvary Chapel
DIVISION VI

1. La Salle

2. Maranatha

3. Marymount

4. South El Monte

5. Ramona Convent

6. Oxford Academy

7. Grace Brethren

8. Campbell Hall

9. Arroyo

10T. Marlborough

10T. Big Bear
DIVISION VII

1. Hesperia Christian

2. Rosamond

3. Victor Valley Christian

4. Kern Valley

5. Connelly

6. Eastside Christian

7. Saddleback Valley Christian

8. Rolling Hills Prep

9. Oxford Academy

10. Calvary Chapel/Downey

The Scoop on:

The basics:

-- 5-foot- 11, 170 pounds
-- Senior
-- Left fielder
-- Right-handed hitter

Stat line (through the first 20 games): .438 batting average, .500 on-base percentage, .757 slugging percentage, 28 hits, 10 doubles, 3 home runs, 16 RBIs, 13 runs, 5 walks, 4 strikeouts. (Click here to go to Newman's bio page.) 

Tools: The guy can hit.

“He keeps his weight back; he’s compact,” Valencia coach Mike Scheetz said. “And he doesn’t get cheated. He takes a very aggressive hack.”

His approach would drive seamheadscrazy. “I want to hit,” Newman said. “I’m not looking to walk. I’m not looking to do anything else. I just want a line drive up the middle every time. … You can’t take too many fastballs in this league.”

But Scheetz makes sure to note, “He’s disciplined. He’s not going to chase pitches out of the strike zone.”

Colorful character: “He wears the most bizarre colored clothing,” Scheetz said. “Yellow jeans, aqua jeans, purple jeans, red. … I think that would be the most flamboyant thing about him.”

Teammates let it slide.

Coaches don’t.

“I asked him if he was wearing his mom’s pants,” Scheetz said.

Newman's batting gloves / JONATHAN KAY, OCVarsity.com

Wear and tear: Newman keeps to one superstition – he never changes batting gloves during a season.

“It’s just something that kind of happened, and I’ve stuck with it because it seems to be working for me,” he said.

Holding up his current pair (see picture at right), he said, “These don’t really cover my hands anymore. … I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth.”

Hearing about this for the first time, Scheetz said, “I’m not surprised. That’s part of the game, and he knows the game.”

The work: “I’m always looking to perfect my swing,” Newman said.

He gives much of the credit to his father, Larry. Though not a baseball player, Larry has spent countless hours in the front yard with Mike, soft-tossing balls that Mike hits into a net. They’ve been doing it for years.

Newman never consulted a private batting coach on any sort of regular basis. Instead, “If I hit a slump, I’m out there (in the front yard) grooving my swing.”

The outlook: Newman’s a second-year captain, as voted by teammates. That respect comes, in part, from his work ethic. His steady attitude also plays a role.

“He doesn’t get any highs and lows,” Scheetz said. “There are times when he hits the ball on the screws right at someone. But he understands the game. He knows he’ll dink one later. He’s very mature for his age.”

But luck doesn’t always even itself out in one season. Last season, Newman hit .306, relatively low for a No. 3 hitter on a 21-win team.

“This year, they’re finding holes,” Newman said of his barrage of hard line drives and ground balls. “It’s the same approach. I’m putting the same amount of work in.”

April 3 brought Newman’s first multi-homer game at any level, when he hit two against Loara.

“It’s just from being stronger,” he said. “I’m never looking to hit home runs. I’m just looking for line drives.”
 
Bloodlines: Troy Newman, Mike’s cousin, plays third base for Esperanza.

The big decision: Option one -- “Focus on baseball, play at a junior college, then transfer to a bigger school.”

Option two -- “Focus on academics.”

The academic route includes going to Chapman and playing both football, where he’s a strong safety, and baseball. He has a similar offer from Redlands.

The baseball route could send him to Cypress or Irvine Valley College. He was scheduled to take a tour of Irvine Valley on Thursday, and Cypress coaches have asked him to visit.

Football, Newman said, “has always been a hobby, so that’d just be a bonus. … The hope for me is to keep playing the game I love for as long as possible.”

-- JONATHAN KAY, Special to OCVarsity.com

When: Wednesday at Valencia; Friday at Cypress, 3:15 p.m.

Outlook: Both teams enter the week one game behind leader Pacifica in the Empire League race.

Pacifica is playing two against Katella this week. Cypress won the first meeting against Valencia, 10-4, back on March 25.

Cypress went 3-2 in the recently completed Anaheim Lions Tournament, including a 7-4 victory over Tesoro.

Valencia went 2-3. The Tigers lost their last two games of the tournament.

David Nick (UCLA) enters the week with a .426 batting average with five home runs and 16 RBIs. Carl Robinson is 4-1 for Valencia with a 2.43 ERA.

Michael Newman has hit three home runs.

Valencia has finished its game against Pacifica, but Cypress has two more games, May 12 and 14.

RELATED:

• Baseball series of the week: Capistrano Valley vs. Dana Hills
• Baseball series of the week: El Dorado vs. Canyon
• Baseball series of the week: JSerra vs. Orange Lutheran
• Baseball series of the week: Los Alamitos vs. Esperanza

And we'll see how different the list really looks when it's time for the teams to hit the field.

Unless he loses some players to academy, I think the No. 1 team on this list will be No. 1 for a long, long time next season.

1. JSerra

2. Servite

3. Valencia

4. Santa Ana

5. Mater Dei

6. Santa Ana Valley

7. Saddleback

8. Aliso Niguel

9. Santa Margarita (The Eagles had some pretty good performances against good teams this year. They will be back.)

10T. Century

10T. Sunny Hills

Anyone disagree with me?