Sage opens as top seed

tennis playoffs storyGirls tennis teams from CdM, Newport Harbor, Estancia and Costa Mesa open postseason this week as well.The Sage Hill School girls’ tennis team will enter the CIF Southern Section Division V postseason as the top seed, highlighting pairings released Monday.

Corona del Mar (17-3), seeded fourth, and Newport Harbor (14-2) open CIF Division I postseason play this week, while Estancia (15-2) and Costa Mesa (9-6) will be joining Sage Hill (16-3) in Division V.

The Mustangs, who finished fourth in the Golden West League, open play at 2 p.m. today at California ACA.Math/Sci (CAMS) in Carson in a wild-card match.

Sage Hill, which grabbed the Academy League championship in undefeated fashion, plays host to Linfield Christian in the first round at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

“We are playing really well right now,” Lightning Coach A.G. Longoria said. “We’re pretty confident that whatever lineup someone throws at us, we can counter it. We don’t have any holes in our team.”

The Lightning reached the semifinals last season before bowing out to top-seeded Malibu.

Corona del Mar, the Pacific Coast League champion, plays host to Anaheim Canyon (8-7) in a first-round matchup at 2 p.m. Thursday, while Newport Harbor, the Sea View League champion, plays host to Villa Park (11-6) in the first round, also at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Entering the postseason, the Sea Kings are feeling confident, Coach Brian Ricker said.

“The team chemistry has really been coming together,” he said. “The girls are getting along great. The singles players have made drastic improvement and the doubles players are solid. So, we’re getting stronger and stronger.”

CdM fell to second-seeded Calabasas in the semifinals last season. Newport Harbor lost to Harvard-Westlake in the second round last year.

Estancia, the Golden West League champion, plays host at 2 p.m. Thursday to the winner of the Baldwin Park-Oxford Academy wild-card match, contested today.