Doubles No Trouble for Westlake

STUDIO CITY — The Westlake High girls’ tennis team, with perhaps the best threesome of singles players in the area, looked to its doubles teams in a time of need.

A sweep by the No. 1 doubles team of Jennifer Azevedo and Brittany Jensky, and a key victory late in the match from No. 2 team Nicole Jensky and Jaclyn Kansky, propelled Westlake over Harvard-Westlake, 11-7, in the Southern Section Division III semifinals Friday at the Racquet Centre.

Second-seeded Westlake advances to Tuesday’s final at the Claremont Racquet Club against top-seeded Irvine Woodbridge, a 13-5 winner over Santa Margarita.

Singles players Helena Horak, Erin Smith and Katy Smith had carried the Warriors (20-4) for much of the season, and a weakness in doubles play hurt the team in all four of its losses.

So, when Wolverine No. 1 singles player Lindsy Forbess defeated Katy Smith, 6-0, then handed Erin Smith a 6-3 loss, the Warriors appeared in trouble.

“I thought, ‘There’s hope,’ ” Harvard-Westlake Coach Rich Kinuya said.

But when Nicole Jensky and Kansky defeated the Wolverines’ No. 1 team of Marissa Kase and Amanda Rosenblum, 6-1, to clinch the victory, all hope for an upset was dashed.

“[Matches] shouldn’t always be up to the singles players,” Jensky said. “There was a lot of pressure, but we knew we had to do it.”

Nicole Jensky and Kansky lost the first two sets, 1-6 and 0-6. But in an impressive turnaround, they came through when Westlake needed them most.

Horak did sweep against the Wolverines (16-8), but it was the team effort that pleased Warrior Coach Connie Flanderka.

“Everybody had moments of shining,” Flanderka said. “We can’t expect singles to do sweeps every time. That’s a lot of pressure on them and I know they feel it--not only that they have to win but win big.”