Playoffs: Bishop Montgomery gains D-4 semis in girls’ tennis

Undefeated Bishop Montgomery kept its hopes alive for a CIF-Southern Section title in girls’ tennis after a narrow quarterfinal victory Nov. 5.

The Knights (17-0) edged Trabuco Hills 76-72 in games won (they tied 9-9 in sets), and play in the Division 4 semifinals Nov. 7 against Temescal Canyon (14-5). The victor plays the winner of El Toro vs. Culver City in the Nov. 9 finals.

In D-5, both La Salle and Notre Dame Academy lost closely-fought quarterfinal matches by 10-8 margins, La Salle to Westminster and Notre Dame Academy to Century.

No local Catholic school has won a CIF-SS girls’ team tennis title since St. Bonaventure in 2002 (Division IV). The last local Catholic school to reach a divisional final was Chaminade (Division 4) in 2016.

Cross country

Going into this weekend’s CIF-SS preliminaries in boys’ and girls’ cross country, the final regular season rankings issued by PrepCalTrack.com’s Rich Gonzalez have Loyola still tied for second among Division 2 boys’ teams.

In D-3, St. John Bosco moved up from 14th to tenth, and Servite dipped from 11th to 12th. In D-4, J. Serra inched from third to a tied for second, Cathedral stayed sixth, Chaminade rose from ninth to eighth, and Bishop Amat held at 12th. St. Bonaventure climbed from ninth to eighth in D-5.

In girls’ cross country, Mater Dei was 13h in D-2, and Santa Margarita still sixth in D-3. Bishop Amat, J.Serra, Mayfield and Flintridge Sacred Heart remained Nos. 5-6-8-10 in D-4, with Immaculate Heart 16th. And in D-5, La Reina and Sacred Heart were ninth and tenth.

CIF-SS preliminaries take place Nov. 9-10, CIF finals on Nov. 17, and state championships on Nov. 24.

Mike Nelson is the former editor of The Tidings (predecessor of Angelus News).

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