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Mater Dei’s girls tennis team continued its rise Monday by securing the No. 1 seed in the Open Division for the CIF-SS playoffs.
The Monarchs were seeded second last season in the Open Division and finished as the runner-up to San Marino. Coach Debbie Shaffer’s squad later claimed its first CIF SoCal regional championship.
This fall, Mater Dei (18-1) went undefeated en route to Trinity League title. The team’s lone regular-season defeat came against Portola in a tiebreaker at the Point Loma tournament in late September.
The Monarchs, seeking their first section title since 1999, open the playoffs Friday by playing host to Corona del Mar (14-4) at Los Cab Sports Village in Fountain Valley.
Mater Dei beat the Surf League champion 15-3 earlier this season.
Portola (16-0), Pacific Coast League champion, secured the No. 6 seed in the eight-team Open Division and play at Bay League champion Palos Verdes in the first round Friday.
The Bulldogs defeated Palos Verdes at the Point Loma tournament.
Mater Dei, Portola and Corona del Mar each reached the Open Division for the second consecutive season.
The other Open Division matches Friday are: No. 5 Peninsula at No 4 Mira Costa and No. 7 Harvard-Westlake at No. 2 Westlake.
San Marino fell to Division 1 and opens by playing host to Sage Hill (14-9) on Wednesday.
Surf League rivals Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach are seeded second and third, respectively, in Division 1 behind Los Osos.
The Barons (10-5) play host to defending Division 1 champion Tesoro (5-8) in the first round Wednesday.
University (13-3), the Pacific Coast League runner-up, opens against visiting Oak Park of Ventura County on Wednesday and could face the No. 4 seed King of Riverside (21-1) in the second round Friday.
Other top high seeds from Orange County include: Laguna Beach (No. 1) and San Clemente (No. 2) in Division 2, Dana Hills (No. 4) in Division 3 and Crean Lutheran (No. 1) and Oxford Academy (No. 3) in Division 4.
The section’s six divisional finals will be played Nov. 10 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, a shift from longtime host The Claremont Club.
The Claremont Club will host the CIF SoCal Regional Nov. 17-18, which will serve as the qualifier for the new state championship set for Nov. 25 at Fresno Pacific University.
“We will absolutely go for it if we make it,” Shaffer said of the state final.
Please send tennis news to Dan Albano at [email protected] or @ocvarsityguy on X and Instagram