Prause Leads Laguna Hills to Easy Victory Over Valencia

Valencia and Laguna Hills each had 13-6 records coming into their first-round playoff match, but Valencia Coach Mike McCall knew his team was the decided underdog Thursday.

“They have more players that have been playing tennis for a long time,” McCall said. “Most of my girls, I’ve had to teach them how to hold a racket. They’ve come a long way.”

Just not far enough. Laguna Hills easily defeated Valencia, 13-5, at Laguna Hills, and advanced to Saturday’s second round against fourth-seeded El Dorado.

“I’m proud of them,” McCall said. “We’ve had a good year. They’re just better than we are.”

Laguna Hills won six of nine singles sets, including a sweep by No. 1 singles player Jessica Prause, who didn’t lose a game in three sets. The Hawks won seven of nine doubles sets and got sweeps from Lauren Jacobs and Michele Angeloni at No. 2 and Jean Liao and Jamie Penano at No. 3.

Laguna Hills Coach Linda Merritt seemed surprised her team disposed of Valencia so easily.

“I wasn’t quite sure what to expect,” Merritt said. “I’d never heard of them.”

But she has heard of El Dorado.

“We haven’t talked about it yet,” Merritt said. “They don’t even know who they’re playing Saturday. We’ll have to play much better to beat them. I’ve seen our girls play much better than this. They can play more aggressive.”

Reychel DeLeon won two of three sets at No. 1 singles for Valencia, which finished second in the Orange League.