Miraleste Beats Palos Verdes in Girls Tennis, Rules the Hill

Miraleste High staked its claim to be crowned Queen of the Hill by beating Palos Verdes 11-7 in a non-league girls tennis match at Palos Verdes on Thursday afternoon.

Miraleste, ranked second in the CIF Southern Section 4-A Division, improved its record to 8-0 while third-ranked Palos Verdes fell to 6-2, its other loss coming to top-ranked Corona Del Mar.

“We played OK, but you can’t play OK and win against Miraleste,” Palos Verdes Coach Kathy Ross said. “I can’t get mad at my kids. We lost a lot of key points that turned sets around, but they played OK.” It was the seventh straight victory for the Marauders over Palos Verdes.

Laura Bak-Boychuk, playing No. 3 singles for Miraleste, swept three sets to lead the Marauders. The No. 2 doubles team of Andrea Ballard and Stephanie Lorman also swept three sets.

After the first round, Miraleste led, four sets to two, highlighted by a strong performance by Bak-Boychuk. She shut out the No. 1 Palos Verdes player, Sheila Moore, 6-0.

Moore “couldn’t get going in the beginning; it might have been the rotation,” Ross said.

Palos Verdes had used a rotation in which the No. 1 players met each other first and then played Nos. 2 and 3. But Thursday’s match was played with the CIF rotation, which has the No. 1 players playing each other last.

Moore bounced back to beat Miraleste’s No. 1 player, Erica Hanson, 6-3, in the final set.

At the end of the second round, Palos Verdes’ Melanie Fountain could have closed the score to 7-5, but Bak-Boychuk staved off a rally and won. The set was marked by disputed calls on both sides. In the third round Palos Verdes’ No. 1 doubles team, Paully Hackathorn and Lorren Lotesta, beat Miraleste’s Kristin Keller and Krista Corette 6-2 to start a late Sea King surge. But the Marauders clinched the match with victories in the next two sets.

The Sea Kings get a chance to avenge their loss at Miraleste on Oct. 23.