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.” Changing the order almost backfired as Sophie and Kylie had to come from behind, breaking serve at 5-6 then breezing through the tiebreaker. This solidified a 4-2 first round tally, which is exactly what we were looking for; and when combined with our 5-1 round 2 effort, the Lions were sitting pretty at 9-3. This allowed KOach to sub liberally, ending up with a 14 - 4 final. The tortoise finally caught the hare! Bright spots were Kylie/Sophie and Gabbi/Elise going 3 for 3 in dubs…the singles trio, Halle, Scarlett and Jazmin did awesome, but, the Oilers #1 player was unbeatable today. The Lions travel across the freeway Thursday to play St Margret’s at Saddlebck’s new tennis complex. Go Lions!