Sage top seed, CdM No. 4

Fresh off the school’s first Academy League title in any girls sport,

Sage Hill School’s tennis team earned the No. 1 seed in the CIF

Southern Section Division V playoffs Monday. The Lightning are one of

four area teams to make the playoffs, all of which will play host to

first-round matches Thursday.

Corona del Mar, winner of eight section titles, but ousted in the

semifinals last year, earned the No. 4 seed in Division I. It will

meet visiting Bishop Montgomery (8-10) Thursday at 2 p.m.

The Sea Kings (12-4), co-champions of the Pacific Coast League,

enter the playoffs having won nine consecutive matches. A victory

over Bishop Montgomery, the third-place entry from the Serra League,

would earn Corona del Mar a second-round match with either San

Clemente (15-3) or El Modena (12-3) and looking ahead to the

quarterfinals, a rematch against Mater Dei, which defeated CdM, 10-8,

in the season opener.

Newport Harbor (13-4), co-champion of the Sea View League, is on

the same side of the Division I bracket as the Sea Kings, but has a

tough road ahead if it wishes to meet its Back Bay rival in the

semifinals.

The Sailors will be at home Thursday against Northwood (10-10), an

at-large entry from the Pacific Coast League. Looming in the second

round is Mission League champion Harvard-Westlake (11-6). After that the Tars would likely face top-seeded Peninsula (18-0) in the

quarterfinals.

In Division V, Estancia (13-1), the undefeated champion of the

Golden West League, returns to the playoffs for the second straight

season. The Eagles will play host to Magnolia, the third-place entry

from the Orange League, Thursday.

Sage Hill’s opponent will be determined today. The Lighting

(13-5), who reached the quarterfinals last year, will meet the winner

of Baldwin Park (11-9) and Ontario Christian (8-7), both third-place

teams.

CdM, Tars, Mesa in

* WATER POLO: Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar and Costa Mesa, each

of which finished second in their respective leagues, will all begin

play in the CIF Southern Section playoffs Thursday.

The Sailors (16-10) will play a home game at Corona del Mar High

in the first round of the Division I playoffs against Millikan

(18-6), the second-place entry from the Moore League.

If Harbor can escape the first round, it would likely have a

quarterfinal meeting with No. 4-seeded El Toro (21-6). The Sailors

bowed out of the 2002 playoffs with a 9-8 loss to El Toro in the

quarterfinals.

Corona del Mar (7-18), which reached last year’s title match after

winning three straight titles from 1999-2001, finished the regular

season as co-champion of the Pacific Coast League.

The Sea Kings will play host to Laguna Hills (21-5), the

third-place team from the Sea View League, Thursday at 3:15 p.m.,

with the Newport Harbor game to follow at 4:30 p.m. A victory would

likely match CdMup with top-seeded Harvard-Westlake (23-2) in the

quarterfinals Saturday.

Costa Mesa (15-6), second-place finisher in the Golden West

League, will be the lone area team to begin the playoffs on the road,

playing at No. 4-seeded Esperanza (12-7), the Sunset League

runner-up, Thursday.