Having little information about Los Alamitos’ players or their regular season production, JSerra coach Kirk Orahood opted to fall back on his “Santa Margarita lineup.”
The arrangement that grabbed the Lions their first Trinity League championship was equally effective in a 13-5 triumph over the Griffins on Wednesday in a CIF-SS Division 1 first-round playoff matchup at JSerra High.
Lions star singles player Jadie Acidera cruised to 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 wins. On the doubles side, Orahood split up twins Mary and Zoe Kaffen, resulting in five additional points for JSerra.
Playing in the No. 1 doubles slot, Mary Kaffen and partner Tovah Stevens fought back from a 2-5 deficit against Sunset League champs Hope Hairrell and Karoline Pintar, grabbing the final five games to steal a crucial 7-5 result.
“I thought we picked up two big doubles (points) in that first round,” Orahood said. “If your number one team loses, everyone gets kind of down. So winning that, and then the win at number two doubles was key.”
With the Rachel Test–Lauren Heinrich team earning a first-round win and the Zoe Kaffen-Samantha Ramirez pair doing the same, JSerra (20-2) jumped out to a commanding 5-1 lead, which became 9-3 after two rounds.
Mary Kaffen and Stevens finished the afternoon 3-0 in doubles, while the other pairs each notched two points. Macy Stolle chipped in with a 2-1 mark in singles for the Lions, who will face Northwood in Friday’s second round.
Los Alamitos finished the season 9-7 overall.
Also in Division 1:
Corona del Mar 16, Dos Pueblos of Goleta 2: Jasie Dunk, Danielle Willson and Siena Sharf put together a perfect 9-0 singles score line in leading the second-seeded Sea Kings past the visiting Spartans.
Dana Hills 13, Fountain Valley 5: The Dana Mackensen–Jacklyn Melkonian duo swept their doubles sets, and the the Dolphins received two points from all of their other starters in a first-round win over the Barons.
Northwood 14, La Canada 4: Frances Kroll and Deepika Reddy put up 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 score lines as the Timberwolves doubles lineup swept and accounted for nine of the team’s 14 points.
University 10, Palm Desert 8: Behind Judy Kam’s 3-0 day in singles, the Trojans pulled out a road victory over the Aztecs. University will host fourth-seeded Campbell Hall on Friday.
Newport Harbor 16, Palm Spring 2: The Anna Burke–Kendall Cosenza team didn’t drop a single game in doubles, pacing the Sailors’ triumph over the Indians.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
