St. Margaret's wins another title in a close one

CLAREMONT – St. Margaret's Arin Melkonian was nervous. As players from both teams crowded the courts surrounding the Tartans' junior, the nerves almost became too much.

"It's too nerve-wracking, having the whole, entire team — both teams — watching," she said. "It's overwhelming."

With the CIF-SS Division 3 title headed to a tiebreaking game count, the decisive game was played by a girl who was in Rick Trager's lineup for a particular reason.

"I knew she'd drive them crazy," he said.

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OCVarsity Hot Shots: CIF tennis championships

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Calmly returning each ball hit her way, Melkonian's slowdown style prevailed and she won the final set, 6-0, to give the Tartans a 69-65 edge in games won Monday at the Claremont Club.

Those final points, the ones that helped St. Margaret's win its fourth consecutive CIF-SS title, lasted for minutes that felt like days.

"I thought I was going to need to shave," Trager said.

It is the second year in a row St. Margaret's defeated Sage Hill, 9-9, in the finals, winning the 2010 title on games, too.

"It's very, very disappointing," Sage Hill coach A.G. Longoria said. "We know we don't have the talent they do, but we have the heart. It's hard that it comes down to one or two shots."

Eight of Sage Hill's nine points came from doubles victories, with Liana Korber's 6-1 victory over Melkonian as the Lightning's only singles triumph.

Still, after the final set of the day, that loss was already a distant memory for Melkonian, one that was replaced by being mobbed by her teammates after winning the CIF-SS title.

"This is the most amazing feeling ever," she said.

In Division 2:

Santa Barbara 16, Newport Harbor 2: Newport Harbor had out-balanced all but two teams this season. "Unfortunately," Coach Kristen Case said, "one of them was today." The Sailors, ranked third in Orange County for most of the season, never got anything going against top-seeded Santa Barbara in the Division 2 final.

"They just played better tennis than us today," Case said. "We were prepared, and we've been playing great tennis, and we did everything we could to be as prepared as possible, but they were just better today."