Heading into the Fall CIF playoffs, hopes were high for a lot of teams in the area—three volleyball squads were CIF top tens, and Wilson’s water polo team was a top four seed.  Yet, somehow, it’s the unheralded Lakewood girls’ tennis program that has had the most success of all the postseason bracket teams, advancing to the semifinals with a nailbiting tiebreaker win over Valencia Placentia.
 
With the score tied at nine sets each, CIF tiebreaker rules state that the winning team is the one who won the most games in the match—this rule eliminated Millikan this year and Poly last year, and has not typically boded well for Moore League teams, which often have two or three great players but not the same talent level from top to bottom that other schools do.  Lakewood reversed the trend, however, with a 70-61 advantage on games. 

The doubles team of Kelli Prowant and Mackenzie Thorpe did yeoman’s work as usual, as did Suzy Tan, who swept 6-2, 6-0, 6-0.

The road in the semifinals, of course, doesn’t get any easier—Lakewood will face top-seeded San Marino, who defeated Riverside King 14-4 in the quarters yesterday.  Of course, they weren’t supposed to come this far anyway, so good luck telling the Lancers they’re underdogs.  Since San Marino hosted, a coin flip Wednesday morning will determine whether they or Lakewood hosts the semifinal match.  We’ll post an update as soon as the results are in!