Mater Dei and Bishop Montgomery remained alive in the CIF-Southern Section Boys’ Tennis Tournament with narrow victories in the May 6 quarterfinals.

Second-seeded Mater Dei defeated No. 8 Carpinteria 10-8 in the In Division 3 quarterfinals, and second-seeded Bishop Montgomery downed Le Lycee 10-8 in D-4. Unseeded St. Francis was edged 10-8 by No. 5 Cypress in a rain-delayed D-2 quarterfinal match played May 6 and 7.

In the D-2 semifinals on May 8, Mater Dei (14-7) will play third-seeded Trabuco Hills (11-2), while in D-4 Bishop Montgomery (13-5) will play third-seeded Flintridge Prep (10-5). The winners advance to the May 10 finals.

The last Catholic school from Los Angeles Archdiocese or Orange Diocese to win a CIF-SS title in boys’ tennis was Santa Margarita (D-2) in 2015. The last local Catholic school to reach a CIF-SS divisional final was J.Serra, which lost to Buckley (D-3) in 2017.

The only other local Catholic school CIF-SS boys’ tennis champions have been Bishop Diego (1974 and 1975), Loyola (1982, 1984 and 1986) and Servite (2001).

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

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