Stone Outdoes Herself With City Tennis Title

Top-seeded Desiree Stone, a junior at North Hollywood, went one step better than last season, winning the City Section girls’ tennis singles championship on Monday with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over second-seeded Samantha Smith of Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies.

Stone was the runner-up last season, but after dropping six of the first seven games Monday at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino, she rallied to claim her first individual title.

Adriana Flores of Woodland Hills El Camino Real took third with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Princess Manasseh of Westchester.

The top-seeded doubles team of Alex Margolin and Roxanne Plata repeated as champions with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Granada Hills teammates Maria Cardenas and Julia Dyachenko.

Lauren Pugatch and Krista Slocum of Palisades took third with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Kiri Inouye and Jenna Yoshikawa of Venice.

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Football

USC received commitments over the weekend from three of the Southland’s top players: cornerback Kevin Thomas of Oxnard Rio Mesa, defensive back Will Harris of Covina Charter Oak and defensive end Averell Spicer of Rancho Cucamonga.

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Boys’ Water Polo

Chay Lapin, a senior goalkeeper who led Long Beach Wilson to its fourth consecutive Southern Section Division I title, was selected the division’s co-player of the year with junior J.W. Krumpholz of Santa Ana Foothill.

Sam Bailey, the first-year coach at semifinalist Corona del Mar, was chosen coach of the year.

Other players and coaches of the year include:

* Division II: Shea Buckner of Villa Park and Dave Carlson, Los Alamitos coach;

* Division III: Christian Flores of Montebello and Sergio Macias, Montebello coach;

* Division IV: Kevin Kuga of Goleta Dos Pueblos and Jonny Gaspardis of Santa Barbara and Chris Parish, Dos Pueblos coach.

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Girls’ Volleyball

Sophomore Alix Klineman, who helped Manhattan Beach Mira Costa to the state Division I and the Southern Section Division I-A titles, was selected the Division I co-player of the year with Long Beach Wilson senior Cynthia Barboza. Jack Richards, who led Ventura Buena to the Division I-A quarterfinals, was chosen coach of the year.

Other players and coaches of the year include:

* Division II: Mallorie Croal of Santa Ana Mater Dei and Annie Meyers of South Torrance and coaches Robert Kutch of South Torrance and Trent Jackson of Huntington Beach Edison;

* Division III: Blair Socci of Santa Margarita and Jordan Smith of Corona del Mar and coaches Michelle Sarkees of Santa Margarita and Bill Christianson of Corona del Mar;

* Division IV: Traci Weamer of Covina Western Christian and coaches Dawn Bartholomew of Western Christian and Cari Klein of L.A. Marymount.