Area Tennis Players Advance in Regional

Three singles players and four doubles teams advanced to the round of 16 Saturday in regional competition of the Southern Section boys’ tennis playoffs.

In a regional at the Cate School in Carpinteria, fourth-seeded Nick Weiss of Calabasas and Joey Edelberg of Oak Park advanced, as did the doubles teams of Keith Rehklau and Carlo Cruz (Simi Valley), third-seeded Jonathan Yee and Brandon Parker (Calabasas) and Jason and Jared Gaona (Camarillo).

Ventura’s Erin Carroll, seeded second in the singles draw, was upset by Edelberg in the third and final round of Saturday’s regional.

In a regional at the Palmer Tennis Academy in Pasadena, fourth-seeded Ji Chung of Glendale High advanced in singles and Harvard-Westlake’s third-seeded pairing of Brian Bezonsky and Andrew Kowell advanced in doubles.

Two other regionals were held at different sites.

All remaining competition will take place at the Seacliff Tennis Club in Huntington Beach. The round of 16 and the quarterfinals are Friday and the semifinals and finals are next Saturday.

Nielsen to Chapman: Lisa Nielsen, a 5-foot-10 forward from Valley College, has committed to play for Chapman University next year. Nielsen, a Saugus High graduate, averaged 10.5 points and 8.3 rebounds for Valley last season and was an All-Western State Conference selection.

Staying in the city: Dennis Hughes, who coached the Hoover High football team the past 11 seasons, on Friday was hired as offensive line coach at Glendale College.

Hughes resigned at Hoover last November after school administrators threatened to fire him for using an ineligible player in the season-finale against Glendale.

He played at Glendale College in 1974-75.

True masters: Mike Shaffer and Jim McConica combined to capture five individual national Masters titles for the Ventura Aquatic Masters Swim Club last week in the U.S. Masters Swimming Short Course National Championships in Federal Way, Wash.

Shaffer, 31, competed in the 30- to 34-year-olds age group and won the 1,650-yard freestyle race in 16:19.36, as well as the 100 butterfly (51.48) and the 200 butterfly (1:52.55).

McConica, 46, competed in the 45-49 age group and won the 1,000 freestyle in 10:20.11 and the 500 free in 5:02.42.

Also in the 45-49 division, John Derr, 48, finished third in the 50-yard butterfly and (25.54) and was fifth in the 100 butterfly (57.89). The Ventura team finished 13th overall with 121 points.

A new frontier: Calabasas catcher Sara Hall has been named player of the year in Frontier League girls’ softball.

Hall, a freshman, batted .431 with 18 runs batted in and 17 stolen bases. She helped the Coyotes (10-12) to a third-place league finish and a berth in the Southern Section Division IV playoffs.

Repeat feat: Scott Hansen of Simi Valley won his second U.S. Auto Club Western States Midget feature race last weekend at Madera Speedway.

Hansen drove to victory in the Bill Vukovich Memorial race and ranks fourth in the new series’ standings with 267 points. Hansen trails another Simi Valley driver, Rick Hendrix, who is in first place with 329 points.

Golden bear: Jason Berriz, an All-Foothill League goalkeeper at Saugus High, has signed to play at California next season.