Ventura County Star, Calif., Keith Kropp column
Nov 14, 2012 (Menafn - Ventura County Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --A gorgeous Sunday afternoon bathed in brilliant sunshine and mild temperatures proved to be ideal conditions for many Ventura County players on one of the busiest weekends of the junior tennis calendar.
Competing in tournaments at the Oxnard Tennis Center, Calabasas Tennis & Swim Club and Los Caballeros Racquet & Sports Club in Fountain Valley, 10 area players captured singles titles and another two earned prestigious doubles championships. The winners included a pair of sisters, a talented newcomer to Ventura County and one of the top juniors in Southern California.
Elizabeth and Gracie Mulville, along with their sister Allison, have been three of Ventura County's most accomplished juniors over the past few years. Elizabeth and Gracie competed in the 23rd annual Calabasas Junior Open last weekend and both won with championships -- Elizabeth in the 18s and Gracie in the 12s.
Facing a stern challenge from Seira Shimizu of the Weil Academy in the Girls 18 final, No. 2-seeded Elizabeth Mulville outlasted Shimizu 7-6, 7-5. Gracie Mulville was just as impressive in the Girls 12s final, defeating No. 2 seed Avery Aude of Woodlands Hills 6-0, 7-5.
Also victorious on Sunday was top-seeded Ashley Kratzer in the Girls 14 final. Kratzer, who recently moved to Camarillo from Newport Beach, defeated unseeded Alina Menshykova of the Weil Academy 7-5, 6-3. Kratzer, ranked No. 45 in Southern California in the 14s, was coming off a tournament win at the SCTA Grand Prix Masters a few weeks ago.
Other area champions from Calabasas (which attracted 340 players) were Bernardo Oliveira (Boys 16s) and Viktoria Bardarova (Girls 16s), both of the Weil Academy.
In other tournament action on Sunday:
18th annual Ventura County Junior Satellite Tournament: Approximately 100 players participated in the tournament at OTC and five of them won titles. The Boys 12s singles featured the biggest draw and top-seeded Ryan St. Jean of Newbury Park lost just eight games en route to winning the championship. St. Jean defeated Kayvon Saleh of Westlake Village 6-1, 6-1 in the final.
Other singles champions included Courtney Morrison of Oxnard (Girls 18s), Dalton Wiley of Oxnard (Boys 18s), Tristan Hess of Westlake Village (Boys 14s) and Andy Hess of Somis (Boys 10s).
110th annual Southern California Junior Sectional Doubles Championships: Dominique Schaefer of Ventura, who won the Girls 14 singles championship at Junior Sectionals in June, returned to the same Fountain Valley venue Sunday to capture the Mixed 16 doubles title with partner Taylor Fritz of Rancho Sante Fe.
Schaefer and Fritz, seeded No. 2, defeated the No. 1-seeded team Daniel Gealer of Los Angeles and Amber Park of La Canada 6-2, 6-3 in the final. The championship match was almost a family affair as Schafer's older brother, Fabian, came a match away from playing in the final. Fabian Schaefer and partner Kenadi Hance of Torrance reached the semifinals before losing to Gealer and Park in a third-set match tiebreaker 10-8 after splitting the first two sets 6-2, 6-7.
In the Mixed 12 final, Emily Ackerman of Thousand Oaks and partner Stefan Dostanic of Irvine won the championship over Julia Deming of Fallbrook and Zachary Svajda of San Diego 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-6).
PASSING SHOTS
UCLA sophomore and Thousand Oaks resident Marcos Giron won a pair of three-set matches before losing to Henrique Cunha of Duke 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships last weekend at the USTA National Tennis Center in New York. ... Frontier League champion Carpinteria defeated J.W. North 10-8 to win the CIF-SS Girls Division 5 championship. Other team champions for the girls high school season were University (Division 1), San Marino (Division 2), Laguna Hills (Division 3) and Cerritos (Division 4). Thousand Oaks High reached the quarterfinals in Division 1 before losing 13-5 to eventual champion University and Malibu lost 11-7 to Laguna Hills, the eventual Division 3 champion, in the semifinals.
KEY DATES
USTA -- The SoCal Junior Championships (Ventura County), Saturday-Monday; High schools -- CIF-SS Girls Individuals (regional round), Monday.
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