Breakers start year off strong

The Laguna Beach High girls’ tennis team started off strong with a 14-4 win over Tesoro in its first match of the season on Wednesday.

“We’ve got a great line-up this year, with some really strong players,” Laguna Beach Coach Jimmy Gleason said.

In singles action, Alex Tachovsky her three sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. Maddie Jaeger also swept, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 and Haley Moss won one of her singles sets, 6-1, but lost the other two, 6-3, 6-2.

The Breakers were equally strong in doubles, with Lauren Michaels and Claire Jaeger winning two of their three sets. Heather Tran and McKenna Nokes were more fortunate, sweeping all three sets, while Alison Azera and Bianca Sganga captured two of their three sets.

The team kicked off the 2008 campaign with tryouts on Aug. 25. Of the 40-plus girls who tried out, 13 made the varsity team and 16 were place on junior varsity. Twenty-two of those 29 players trained with Gleason over the summer at tennis camp.

“[Pre-season] is going really well. We’ve been working on skills and strategies and have played a lot of matches during practice. The team looks really good,” he said.

The girls have been practicing a minimum of two hours a day, five days a week. Gleason said his freshman doubles team of Jaeger and Michaels is a new addition to the team that looks promising.

The Breakers play St. Margaret’s at 3:15 p.m. today.

“From what I hear, I expect a tough match against a good team,” Gleason said.