Finals have local flavor

It will be a busy day for two Newport-Mesa girls tennis players and

while they will have two chances to capture at title at the War by

the Shore junior tennis tournament at Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club,

the day will be also be gut wrenching for nine other local players.

Those 11 players have all made it to the finals of the tournament

in either singles or doubles of their respective age classes. Now

it’s one match, best two sets out of three, to determine the

champions.

There are two No. 1 seeds among local singles players still alive

and two No. 2 seeds. Two doubles teams have a No. 1 seed and both of

those teams have a player who will also be playing singles today.

In the girls 12s singles, No. 1 seed Cierra Gaytan-Leach of Corona

del Mar advanced to the championship with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against

No. 4 seed Sarah Lee Thursday. Gaytan-Leach has yet to lose a set in

singles in four matches in the tournament. She will face No. 3 seed

April Bisharat in the finals at 9:30 a.m.

Those two should know each other well, having paired up in the

girls 12s doubles, where they are the No. 1 seed and have reached the

finals. At 3:30 p.m. today, they will play together against Jeanette

Losaria and Stefanie Villajuan.

The other player involved in two championship matches is Newport

Harbor High senior Vanessa Dunlap, the second seed in the girls 18s

singles and the No. 1 seed in the girls 18s doubles with Bonnie

Adams, whom Dunlap defeated in the singles semifinals Thursday.

The only other No. 1 seed from the Newport-Mesa area that will

play for a title is in boys 12s where Newport Beach’s Joshua

Lorentzen will face Christopher Naamani of Irvine at 12:30 p.m.

Lorentzen, like Gaytan-Leach, has not lost a set in the tournament

and defeated Nicolas Carillo in the semifinals Thursday, 6-4, 6-4.

Naamani defeated Daron Arnold of Newport Beach, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

In girls 16s, second-seeded Jillian Braverman of Newport Beach

will face No. 5 seed Shelly Injejikian. Braverman defeated

fourth-seeded Lorren Butterwick Thursday, 6-3, 6-2 and also has not

lost a set in the tournament.

The biggest surprise Thursday came in the boys 18s singles.

Spencer Reitz of Newport Coast upset top-seeded Josh Lederman of

Pacific Palisades, 6-3, 6-2. Reitz will face Shimpei Suzuki at 9:30

a.m. today for the championship. Suzuki prevented an all-Newport-Mesa

final by defeating Tyler Deck of Newport Beach, 6-2, 6-4.

Going for an upset similar to Reitz’s today will be Newport

Beach’s Joseph DiGiulio. Having already knocked off the No. 2 seed in

boys 10s singles, DiGiulio will battle No. 1 Jonathan Huang of Santa

Ana at 11 a.m. today. DiGiulio defeated Jim Myers Thursday, 5-7, 6-1,

6-2.

In addition to the two previously mentioned doubles teams, two

other teams with a local connection made the finals.

The Newport Beach duo of Michelle Atkins and Christina Schwartz

will take on Brooke Bartlett and Alyssa Nafarrete in the girls 14s

doubles title match at 2 p.m..

Charlie Corum of Costa Mesa will team with Romel Orpiano opposite

Newport Beach’s Daron Arnold and his partner, Junya Yoshida in the

boys 12s doubles final at 3:30 p.m.