San Juan Capistrano, CA — The Lady Lions fought hard in this 2nd round of CIF D1 Championships, but, fell just short.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — JSerra finished the 2022 campaign with a Senior Day victory over Orange Lutheran; 16 - 2 ; winning 107 individual games vs 32. All subs played! Everyone played great matches, tuning up for Trinity League Finals, to be held here Wednesday and Thursday.

Fullerton, CA — The Lions traveled up the the 57 today and promptly opened up a quick 6-0 lead over Rosary and never looked back; taking round 2 and 3, sweeping 5 of 6 sets in both of these latter rounds.

Fountain Valley, CA — In a hard-fought 1st round, the Lions 'bit the head off the snake" but, there were 2 of them! JSerra played their lineup straight up today strength vs strength in round 1. Jazmine Aftabi and Halle Parker jumped out ahead of the league's #1 undefeated doubles team and never looked back. It was an exciting set, decided by a 6-6 tiebreaker in JSerra's favor, 8 to 6. Scarlett fought from a big deficit but was unable to close out her singles match at line #1. None the less, the Lions found themselves down by 2 sets, 2 -4 at the end of round 1. KOach knew we'd pick up all 3 sets vs the Monarch's line 3 dubs and they did. Jazi and Halle's upset victory took the Mater Dei's best player out of the entire match, she had enough! This gave JSerra a glimmer of newfound hope. However, Mater Dei has plenty of depth, subbed in another strong player who was able to carry the line 1 team to 2 close wins. Jazi and Halle went on to sweep their remaining 2 sets in routine fashion for the hat trick!...a real good day at the office. Anna/Aerin and Sophie/Kylie picked up 1 set each for the Lions 4th and fifth tallies.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Rosary played some tough matches, but a D3 program that was overmatched today vs the Lions.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — JSerra waded in to some mild surf, warm water, no sting rays, not rip tides and comes ashore with a 15 - 3 victory. "This was definitely not the Beach of old" notes KOach, they had 2 top players quit and their next best player was ill. JSerra's starters were undefeated and ALL would be MVP's had they not been subbed out. KOach adds, "If you would have said to me earlier in the season, 'you will beat Dana 18-0 and Laguna 15-3', I would have sent you for an evauation"!

Santa Ana, CA — The Lions took to the road today, traveling to Santa Ana to play the team they beat in the 2022 CIF D2 Championships last November.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — KOch subbed liberally today vs. the Chargers, managing a 12 - 6 nonleague win. 50% of the starters were pulled after round 1 and in round 3, the Lions had 80% subs in this match. Fionulla and Sophia filled in defeating Charger lines 2 and 3, Bella and Ellie also came in an took care of line 3 dubs, 6-1. Cordelia captured 2 key singles sets as did Scarlett...the Charger's #1 player was undefeated until Scarlett rotated up and allowed only 2 games in this round 2 victory. Anna and Aerin added their usual 2, which would have been 3 had they stayed in. Grace played a grueling singles match, dropping a close 5-7 set with both squads on the courts watching! Elise/Gabbi, Sophie/Kylie were subbed after round 1, allowing their senior teammates to compete.

Mission Viejo, CA — A hot day for cross town rivalry match. "We were lucky to get this in" says Koach. St. Margaret's literally had not practiced or played a match, having scrapped 12 days due to heat. So, this was like starting the NFL with no preseason games OR practices. On top of that, the Tartans #1 girl was out with a wrist injury...

Huntington Beach, CA — KOach can’t remember why or when we first started playing Huntington Beach, but, knows we shouldn’t have been playing them at all. They were the CdM of NWest OC, situated close to a great tennis facility with a good academy. Then they got transfers from other parts of the country. We never came close to them and we had good teams! JSerra continued to schedule them throughout the covid times, because they have 12 nice, newly refurbished courts and can send 2 teams there and our third team hosts. The Oilers got to the semis last year in D1, losing to San Marino 9-9 on game count, who then lost 10-8 in the finals. KOach states, “I felt good today, going in, changed only the order of the lineup, not individuals….my scouting report was accurate, it was just off their last year’s roster! As I watched the warmups, I was very confidant that we would finally get a “W” over the school Keith, Kent and I played for years ago.”

Irvine, CA — Crean graduated 5 starters from last year's team while JSerra picked up 3 top starters [vs last year's lineup]

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Kirk's Korner:

claremont, CA — 5 matches in 8 school days, 100's miles traveled, lottsa missed schoolwork, 63 sets won vs 27 sets lost = JSerra's first ever CIF tennis championship. (Boys have lost twice in the finals, 9-9 75-71 and last year 8-10), but, this was good as gold!

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Coach was bummed just prior to the game, in fact other team arrived and he was still in the office trying to think about maybe a lineup change... this was after looking at UTR reports on Campbell Halls top 2 players. "A high 9.7 coupled with a 7.5 is much higher than any of my singles players" said KOach, "but I didn't waant the team to know. I did however pull the captain aside with another player to see what they thought. I tld them 'We are gonna go with who we brought to the dance'. They had no idea what I meant, so, I told them, 'no change' . This match was MUCH closer than it looked, there were two 7-6 tiebreakers [both went our way] along with another 7-5 win with a couple of 6-4's sprinkled in.

Fullerton, CA — Very satisfying day today as the Lions come home from Fullerton with a 'W' in their pocket.

Goleta, CA — As the team got off the bus and was in search of any open restrooms, I thought I was on the set my of one of my favorite Jack Nicholson's movies and was looking around for "Chief" in the paint for way longer than 3 seconds.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — The girls played as a unit today, defeating Temecula Valley, 15 - 3. KOach rotated in all 7 subs in round 3 as Aerin / Anna closed out their round2 win over the Bears best duo. This gave the Lions the 10th set they needed to secure the match. All three starting doubles team would have completed the 9 set win: Sophia/Kylie and Jazmine/Gabbi, which would make them MVP's, all around. The only person to win 3 sets on the court for real was Victoria, who easily captured sets at line 3, then 2 before upsetting the Bears top singles player today. Rosalia had an impressive win at line 2 in the last round and Halle breezed through her 2 sets. Julia with Ava S. took on the line 1 doubles team and ended up with a neat little 6-3 victory.

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA — Day 2 was a very hot day in Rancho Santa Margarita.

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA — The Trinity singles draw was not kind to several JSerra Lions, with Elise Early playing the #1 seed, and Gabbi Basa #2 and eventual winner. JSerra's doubles, historically our strength, all survived their 1st round matches; Victoria Oh/Olivia Morris, Anna Ciraci/Aerin Fraize, and Kylie Davidson/Sophia Moncur. Victoria and Olivia used several different strategies against their first oppoonents, but, unfortunately, none of those worked against a strong MD team. Anna and Aerin quickly disposed of their initial opponent, before dropping two sets against a MDei team they narrowly lost to the previous day. Both of these MD teams ended up in the finals. In fact, they had the 2 singles finalists as well. Sophia and Kylie quickly disposed of both their doubles opponents, advancing to the day two semis. Back in the singles field, Halle Parker and Jazmine Aftabi easily defeated their round one opponents, moving over to the quarter finals. Jazmine had to play the #3 seed and played well, in a 2 set loss. Halle then played the #4 seed, had a very competitive 1st set, which could have gone either way.. Her OLu opponent was up 4-1 in the 2nd set before she slipped and stained her ankle... She attempted to continue, but unfortunately was not able to. This placed Halle into the semifinals tomorrow. Due to their 1st round victories, all of the aforementioned doubles teams were assured well-earned spots on the Trinity League 2nd Team All-League! While semifinalists Kylie Davidson, Sophie Moncur and Halle Parker earned Trinity League 1st Team honors.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Well, it was a sad finish, great season! KOach saw some good tennis today and felt like the Lions still had a chance in round 3.We had 2 sets still being played with a 7 - 9 tally. "I saw some really good doubles points today, and hope the girls have enough energy to compete wll tomorrow in the Trinity League individuals. Mater Dei is like an all star team... very difficult to beat.

Anaheim, CA — JSerra Varsity Girls tennis had a huge comeback today vs OLu; trailing 5-7 going into round 3, where they took 4 of the 6 remaining sets. Three of those sets were 6-3, 6-1 and 6-1 by our stingy doubles teams, giving up a total 5 games while adding 18 to our tally! Those teams, respectively were:

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Well, he was almost right... not the whole story.. The first match in this "home and away" was played up in Fullerton, the Lions missing four of their top players, still managed a 15 - 3 victory.

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA — The Lions defeated Santa Margarita for the 2nd time this year; this time 12 - 6 on THEIR courts!

San Juan Capistrano, CA — JSerra broke the Lancers today their first of home and home league contests. Our singles Lions gave up only 2 games while capturing 18 at lines 2 and 3... Their #1 player is very strong and playing much better than last year. But, as KOach tells the team, "If they have a superstar, don't worry, we don't have to beat their top singles or doubles, just the other guys." Today's scoreboard is indicitive of this concept, except our # 2 doubles swept 3 and our #3 singles player took two.

santa ana, CA — Santa Ana has a GREAT #1 singles player, a freshman, who demolished or players today...other than that, we fared well. Our doubles teams gave up only 2 total games (54-2 total game count in dubs). KOach noted, "It would have been a great match between Halley and the Saint's #1 player, but, Halley was injured. Our other singles players managed to only get 1 single game off of this #1 player, a freshman, the coaches daughter."

Huntington Beach, CA — Great day for tennis and this team competed well and had fun. Kylie Davidson supplied alot of the entertainment with two very close and tightly contested sets at line 1 vs Archer then Yorba Linda.

Huntington Beach, CA — As easy as round 1 was this morning, our 2nd round hurt...Kylie at line 1 singles jumped out to an early lead, and was able to hold on. Archers player fought back and at 6-7 was holding serve at 40 - love to force a tiebreaker at 7-7... BUT, Kylie had a different plan and swept the last 6 points for the 8-6 win... A tightly contested set..

Huntington Beach, CA — Our opener today was luckily an easy match up vs a team missing players.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — I totally underestimated the heart of the LION today! This is an epic upset for our league opener.

Westminster, CA — A hectic week ends on great note. The varsity girls swept 4 straight this week, ending up with a 13 to 2 victory in Westminster over La Quinta Aztecs.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — JSerra defeated the Tartans from St.Margaret's today... 14 to 4. Last years score was 15- 3,no one being able to beat their#1, but, this year the match was different. Our top 2 players beat their top 2 in 4 great sets! Gabbi Basa got down 0-5 before taking 7 straight, then moved over to court 1 and beat their best, also by a score of 7-5.

Torrance, CA — "Can't believe we got through this year period! ...much less this successful!" Koach Kirk says. "Losing three two starters, who are still in school, another who transferred and one ineligible, hurt us, but, we had a great year! Best team unity ever! Fun!"

Anaheim, CA — Wow, what a barnburner!... when the Lions dropped round one 2 - 4 , they were pretty down. Kaley Houshmand played one of the best sets ever, barely getting edged out by OLu's #1 player, 6-7 [5-7]. Victoria Oh and Gaby Basa were down their whole set before escaping the flames with a 7-5 victory as the Liv duo captured our 2nd point at line #3 doubles. The girls settled down a bit and evened the score after round two, 6 sets apiece. Kaley easily dosed her round three opponent 6-0 as the doubles girls swept all 3 final round sets. BUT, it was 8 to 8 and Olivia and Olivia were down 3 - 5 in their last set, needing this set to avert a 9-9 game count situation... they came back for the 7-5 victory, which sealed the deal as Kaley was up 5 - 0.

Fullerton, CA — The Lions traveled inland today finding desert-like temperatures at the Fullerton Tennis Center. 93 degrees was the air temp, on court temp more! Having grown up in Bakersfield, KOach is used to the dry heat and told the girls to "Get after it, don't take long breaks, basically, 'gitter dun'!" Our duo squads swept all 9 sets played, fashionably; game count 54 to 10. ALL MVPs;

San Juan Capistrano, CA — JSerra enjoyed a very successful senior day with a victory over our neighbor St Margaret.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Biggest single set upset in JSerra tennis history!

Fountain Valley, CA — Coach says there is usually a 3 pt difference in NFL home/away games added to the host. He figures that to be a 1 set delta in Trinity League tennis, and unfortunately, that was the case today," [as we lost at home, 4-14 previously]. I was really looking and hoping for improvement in several areas and expecting to pick up 2 additional sets, 1 in singles and another in doubles, but, that didn't exactly transpire." Kaley Houshmand, who signed a Letter of Intent to compete at Westmont College just yesterday, had a great singles win vs MD's line #3, coming back from 3-5, sweeping 4 games in a row! "Some well-thought out points were structured during this run, some of the best I've seen from her." Kaley DID improve over the first match, adding a set this time. Elise Early and Sophia Moncur played a great 1st set match, disposing of MAter Dei's line #2 team, then their #3 team in the final round adding 2 of our 3 points and capturing MVP honors for this match.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Playing at home today helped in the "unknown realm" as, that was about the only thing the girls knew for certain. A scouting report from last years' match[es] helped, but, not entirely as OLu moves their line and lineup around. We guessed well.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Jserra was a hospitable host today, playing two brand new doubles teams, pulling Senior captain and #1 player, Kaley Houshmand, after she defeated Rosary's line#1 player, moved a player to singles for first time, subbed out two starters after round 1 and another after round 2, [thus, forming a 3rd doubles team that had never competed together]! We still managed to pick up 16 sets, as doubles swept all 9 sets, and singles giving up only 2 sets. It was a great day; Juliana had her victory after a tough loss vs line3... going 1 for 2, her 1st ever Trinity League singles victory. Gabi Basa answered her call, sweeping all 3 singles sets played. "I enjoy watching her play" says KOach, "I can tell she is thinking about everything that is going on," which paid off today. The 2 Olivia's played 3 awesome sets today, their 1st hat trick of the season. Delara Gitibin played today, helping Elise win her 3rd doubles set..after subbing in for Kiley... Sophia and Anna Ciraci cruised through their three sets... Victoria picked up her 2nd set of the day with both teams seated and watching as the sun set on this Lion victory.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Tough loss in the Trinity League opener. A very good Mater Dei singles lineup were able to shut out our Lions today, while the doubles were able to pick up 4 sets. Victoria and Gabbi swept lines #2 and #3, allowing on 3 games in two sets...before falling to the line 1 team. Anna and Kiley had a great match, coming from behind, down the whole set, including 4-5, before sweeping 3 games, prevailing 7-5. Elise and Sophia picked up a lone set, but, lost a very close match to line #1, 4-6... and running out of gas in their last set, in a tough tiebreaker loss, 6-7 [7-3]. We will need to regroup before our away match vs SM next week.

Santa Ana, CA — This match was close all the way."I think Foothill's 'fast four' league mandated format was tough to get used to. "...Would love to see a rematch with regular scoring format used"... said KOach O; he added, "playing girls/boys at same time is tough enough, but, calling around, trying to get the boys there 3 hours earlier than planned, while the girls were competing, made it real rough."

Newport Beach, CA — JSerra sunk the sailors today in our first ever varsity meeting;12 to 8!

San Juan Capistrano, CA — It was a close match... (last year!) after losing 6 starters from last years CIF quarterfinalist team, this result was much different. Kaley Houshmand picked up 2 singles points and Sophia Moncur added the 3rd, unfortunately, doubles was blanked, which rarely happens. We also fielded 2 starting freshmen, Olivia Morris [doubles] and Victoria Oh at line 2 singles. Onward and upward!

Fullerton, CA — How do you win 17-1 when nobody loses a set? We ran out of time at Fullerton Tennis Center so we volunteered to “forfeit” the final singles set so we could all get on the ‘57’ and head back home. Rosary’s #1 player played two LONG matches vs Kylie (7-6) and then Anna (6-3)and it was already past 5pm before we could her 3rd set started.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — Despite lending our top 2 players to Varsity today, our young JV team defeats Orange Lutheran 12-6 to remain tied for 2nd in Trinity League play.

San Juan Capistrano, CA — We sub’d early this afternoon, putting in all 5 available alternates who all got to play 2 “rare” Trinity League sets in rounds 2 & 3. Sophia Moncur and Elise Early easily disposed of first round singles opponents, while Grace Hoover and Mia Carpino did the same thing in doubles. Kira Burke and Breanna Ursetta won in the first round of doubles, before splitting up to help Waka pick up 2 set victories. Sarah Lacson won both sets of singles played today, to continue her winning ways. Kano Fujiyoshi has a Trinity League win today too!

Newport Coast, CA — Saturday at Sage Hill! Missing 3 of our starters, the Lions ventured out to Sage Hill for a Saturday 'friendly'. Our doubles were swept in the round one, with Elise and Sophia picking up 2 points in singles. Ava and Julianna along with Kira and Kylie came to life with round 2 doubles victories, coupled with 2 more singles wins by Elise and Sophia, gave the Lions a 4-2 edge, resulting in a 6-6 deadlock going in to round 3. Kira and Ava picked up a quick win vs Sage #3 duo, moving JSerra into a precarious 7-6 lead. Subbing at #3 doubles for starters Lauren and Sara, Sam and Annie fought hard before succumbing to Sage line #2, while Ava and Julianna had a tough loss vs Sage#1 team. Doubles was quick today and these matches were completed before singles even started their respective third round, JSerra now down 7 - 8. Coach Kirk says "I saw them all laughing as they counted total games [which is the tiebreaker for 9 - 9 ties] and saying they were up by 20 games, no problem. They were counting on getting the victory as their line 2 player was pitted against Mia, who had yet to win a set. Well, the one BIG problem they forgot about was Mia Carpino's will to win! Mia is the Bjorn Borg of girls high school tennis, nothing phases her!"