Year in Review

For Mater Dei and Laguna Beach, 1999 was as sweet as 1998. The Monarchs and Artists won their second consecutive Southern Section titles. For Laguna Beach, it was the fifth girls’ tennis title of the decade.

Mater Dei, which cruised to the Division II championship last year, had a bumpier road this time around. In the semifinals, Mary Hung’s two singles victories helped the fourth-seeded Monarchs overcome No. 1 singles player Melissa Esmero’s only loss of the year as the Monarchs upset top-seeded Woodbridge, 10-8. In the finals, Mater Dei used a sweep from Esmero to hold off second-seeded and previously undefeated Troy, 10-8.

Laguna Beach beat Carpinteria Cate in the Division V finals for the second year in a row. The Artists’ No. 1 singles player, Ashley Maddocks, didn’t lose a game in top-seeded Laguna Beach’s 11-7 victory.

Newport Harbor began the season as the county’s top-ranked team and the Sailors ended the regular season that way. Their only losses were to Palos Verdes Peninsula--11-7 in the regular season and 10-8 in the Division I finals. Dana Hills, which lost to Newport Harbor in the Division I semifinals, was the county’s most surprising team. The Dolphins, with first-year Coach Jim Wilson and three freshman starters, finished 20-3 and won the South Coast League title--beating preseason favorite Capistrano Valley twice.

Laguna Hills reached its second consecutive Division III final, but the Hawks couldn’t pull off the repeat as they were defeated by North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, which beat Santa Margarita in the semifinals.