San Juan Capistrano, CA — In review of the MVP notes, one might think that my “typewriter keys got stuck” or I messed up copy, cutting and pasting (in more modern terms) …. not the case, regarding the use of the word “undefeated.” Let me fill you in: in addition to having the top 4 seeds in both singles and doubles, who were ALL undefeated for the whole season in Trinity League, Santa Margarita had a 5th doubles team with no losses and another singles player who was 3-0 in league, with limited action. To open up play today, a Mater Dei team took care of that 5th doubles team, (much to their shock and amazement), while Neeka Barkhordar defeated that SM singles player: 8-2! Thank you Neeka for stepping up and contributing. Those early matches set the tone for the day. As tournament director, I was dreading running the second day’s matches with all SMCHS players in it, which was entirely their expectations. Cut to final scene: SMCHS is going into tomorrow’s semi’s with only 6 of 12 spots, while JSerra is filling 5 spots! and Mater Dei with one. The JSerra players who made it to the quarter-finals, will be recognized at the banquet as “2nd Team, All League” (All-Star status). Congratulations to: Hailey Klein and Fionnuala McClain in doubles, and Ava Hetland and Alma Bayat in singles. They lost to the #1 & #2 seeds respectively in well played sets. Back tracking to the round of 16’s, a special shout out to Cecilia Nama, who came oh-so-close to forcing a tie-breaker vs the #4 seeded player from SM, which was a long a well-fought battle. Great effort Cecilia. Our 5 semi-finalists will all be honored as “1st Team All League” All Stars at our banquet. Taylor Mindte with Sofia Recupero, along with Olivia Nowlan and Erica Gonzalez in doubles, and our lone singles player: Sophia Staff. Their rewards for today’s accomplishments: facing higher seeded and YET undefeated players from Santa Margarita again tomorrow at SMCHS! At the end of a long season with many missed classes, I’d like to honor the remaining JSerra players who were able to to participate in this final JV tournament today: Natalie Walters, Lauren Walcott, Helena Sartor and Bryanna Noorian (who got a taste of JV play today - thank you for filling in Bry!) Our 5 JV semi-finalists will be joining 3 Varsity players tomorrow 11am at SMCHS: Sophia Moncur and Kylie Davidson in doubles, Halle Parker in singles. Go Lions!!!