PREP ROUNDUP : Newport Harbor Girls Smile Despite Loss to Peninsula

It’s rare that a tennis player gets excited about losing, but that was Sarah Hawkins’ feeling entering Newport Harbor’s match on Wednesday against Palos Verdes Peninsula, which hasn’t lost in 59 matches.

“It’s the one match a year where you know you’re going to lose, so why not go out and play your best,” Hawkins said.

Newport Harbor played its best and still lost, 17-1, at Newport Harbor High.

Hawkins, who lost her sets, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, said she wasn’t expecting much more.

“I was hoping we could go out and win a couple sets,” she said. “I thought I played pretty well. They’re so tough.”

How tough? Peninsula (12-0) could probably beat plenty of Division I college teams. Five of its players are ranked in the top 10 in their age groups and two of them, Janet Lee and Nicole London, already have played in the U.S. Open.

Newport Harbor, Orange County’s top-ranked team, had won its first 13 matches. But while its players contemplate homework assignments and college entrance exams, Peninsula’s players are considering whether to turn professional or which Pacific 10 schools will be offering scholarships.

Still, Hawkins said she enjoyed herself Wednesday.

“You never go out and have a complete day of tennis,” she said. “It’s fun to go out there and have three tough matches.”

Hawkins and Mara Colaizzi gave Newport Harbor some tough matches and Colaizzi came close to winning one. She served for the set against junior Amanda Augustus, but lost, 7-6 (7-3).

Newport Harbor’s lone victory came from its No. 1 doubles team of junior Lindsay Cohen and freshman Vanessa Godbey, who beat Peninsula’s No. 2 team of Candace Corette and Kerry Giardino, 6-5 (7-5), in a match that was shortened for time considerations.

If it helps any, London said Newport Harbor had the best group of singles players she has seen this year.

“Usually, the matches are a lot easier than this,” London said.

In other nonleague girls’ tennis:

Foothill 12, Fountain Valley 6--The host Knights (3-10) won eight of nine doubles sets, led by Jennifer Park and Wendy Earnest, who swept, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, and Amy Svcarovich and Sarah Rubin, who swept, 6-4, 6-2, 6-0. Nina Basica swept in singles, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, for Fountain Valley (5-6).

Irvine 12, Marina 6--Sarah Denson swept her singles matches, 6-1, 6-0, 6-1, to lead Irvine to the victory.

In Century League water polo:

Foothill 26, El Modena 10--Matt Schuler had five goals for Foothill (11-5, 2-0). Brian Eberhardt scored four goals for El Modena (7-3, 0-2).

Villa Park 9, Canyon 5--Kevin Bobzien scored five goals, and Peter Cornue and Jeff Lewis added two each for Villa Park (12-7, 2-0). Aaron Harries scored three goals for host Canyon.

In the Freeway League:

Sunny Hills 15, Buena Park 4--Eric Hyon and Dion Burmaz each scored three goals for visiting Sunny Hills (14-4, 2-0), which led, 5-0, after one quarter.

La Habra 15, Fullerton 9--Bryan Vaden had eight goals and Dan Ploog had five for La Habra (15-7, 2-0).

In the Empire League:

El Dorado 19, Katella 3--Amanda Gall scored four goals and Nathan Fay recorded 15 saves for El Dorado (3-10, 1-1).

Esperanza 12, Cypress 2--Ian Ching scored four goals for host Esperanza (8-6, 2-0). Brian Bruns and Mike Stanley each added two for Cypress, which dropped to 0-2 in league.

Los Alamitos 24, Loara 6--Adam Bonalonza of Los Alamitos (10-7, 2-0) had a team-high five goals in a game in which 13 Griffins scored. Sean Bryan led Loara (7-2, 0-2) with three goals.

In the Orange League:

Magnolia 9, Western 7--Jeremy Wittman had four goals and Dave Johnson had three for visiting Magnolia (1-0 in league). Western narrowed the gap in the fourth quarter when Brian Verne scored three goals and his brother, Eric, scored one.

In the Sea View League:

University 20, Saddleback 9--Dan Hayes scored six goals and Eric Weiss and Brahm Hojreh each added five for host University (11-5, 2-2).

Newport Harbor 10, Tustin 3--Mike DiGruccio scored three goals, and Adam Cleary and Brad Pence each added two for Newport Harbor (9-3, 3-1).

Corona del Mar 13, Woodbridge 5--Neil Hueston and Kevin Tucker each scored three goals for visiting Corona del Mar (12-2, 3-0), the third-ranked team in the county.

In the Sunset League:

Servite 16, Huntington Beach 6--Ted Castro, Rob Mattivi, Jerry Smith and Bill Howard each scored three goals for Servite (12-4, 3-0), which led, 11-3, at halftime.

Marina 14, Fountain Valley 8--Tim DeVries had seven goals for Marina (9-7, 4-0).

In Empire League girls’ volleyball:

Los Alamitos 3, El Dorado 0--Laura Conlisk had eight kills and Mandy Day had nine assists as host Los Alamitos (6-1, 3-0) won, 15-5, 15-1, 15-9.