With her patience and ability to strike at the most opportune moment, Arroyo Grande tennis team captain Mia McKinstry is one tough opponent.

During Tuesday's 13-5 loss to the San Luis Obispo Tigers in AG, McKinstry was the lone Eagles' singles player to record a point in a highly contested PAC-7 match.

"Mia is the leader of the pack and the girls respect her and look up to her," Arroyo Grande head coach Lori Hollister said. "She was voted one of the two captains as a junior and I think that says a lot in itself."

Although she took a few lessons during elementary school, McKinstry didn't really dedicate herself to the sport until her freshman year. But, in those three years at the high school level, McKinstry has invested her own time during the summer and offseason to practicing tennis - and the results are clearly visible on the court.

In the last match of the regular season, McKinstry led the Eagles (8-4) against the PAC-7-leading Tigers (12-0).

In her first set of the day, McKinstry mixed up her shots and was on serve at 3-3 against SLO's Abigail Will. However, once Will requested the presence of line judges, McKinstry went off her game and dropped the next three games to lose 6-3.

In her second match, McKinstry got even. By prowling the baseline and taking opportune big shots, she was able to dominate the Tigers' Kristy Kayatta and win 6-3. She later fell to Tori Troesh, 6-2, in her final match of the day.

"I played well and I'm not disappointed at all," McKinstry said of her day on the court.

"Last time I was a lot more nervous."

The Eagles' doubles teams went a respectable 4 of 9 to lead the squad in scoring. The number one team of Kimmy Turner and Brianna Flood scored two big wins for the Eagles via 6-4, 6-2 victories.

The duos of Allie Martin and Mackenzie Bedford, along with Leanne Beckstrom and Amber Domako, each added a win for an Eagles team that was short-staffed due to injuries and sickness.

"We played well considering we were missing some of our top four starters," Hollister said.

With McKinstry and the rest of the Eagles at the top of their game, coach Hollister likes her girls' chances heading into Thursday's PAC-7 League Finals.

"We made some turnarounds and Mia beating Kristy (Kayatta) was a real confidence boost - she feels really good about it and it should put her at third in the league and on the right side of the draw," she said.

"(These girls) have improved immensely, even though they lost some sets I think they played really well and I think we have a real good shot at qualifying girls to CIF in both singles and doubles."

McKinstry has high hopes going into the finals as her team's number one player.

"I'm excited and looking forward to it," McKinstry said. "I'd like to be All-League and make it to Friday."

Arroyo Grande ends the season in third place in the PAC-7, behind Paso Robles and first-place San Luis Obispo.

"Third place out of seven is still really good and I love my team - they're all really good players," McKinstry said.

The Eagles and Tigers meet up with the rest of the PAC-7 on Thursday at Nipomo for the league prelims.

Girls volleyball

Santa Ynez 3, St. Joseph 0

Aly Squires pounded 14 kills, Rachel Szeyller smacked 11 and Danielle Carlson had six as the Pirates (11-0, 16-5) swept the Knights 25-18, 25-14, 25-14 in a Los Padres League match at Santa Ynez.

Analise Riezebos and Natasha Kolbo had nine and six kills respectively for St. Joseph, which finished its regular season 8-4, 16-5. The Knights are in third place and guaranteed a playoff spot.

"It was a very efficient night for us. Very few hitting errors," said Santa Ynez coach Chip Fenenga. His team clinched its fourth straight LPL championship last week.

Templeton 3, Lompoc 0

On the team's senior night, the Braves fell to the Eagles 25-19, 25-11, 25-23 despite some late heroics by the Braves.

Led by Susan Hang's five kills and Amber Browns three, the Braves made the competition close but moved to 1-10 in the Los Padres League and 2-13 overall with the loss.

Mary Moua had six digs and Brown contributed two blocks to round out the Braves' top contributors.

Lompoc finishes its season with a match against Santa Maria on Thursday.

Morro Bay 3, Cabrillo 1

The Pirates (8-3 LPL) downed the Conquistadores (5-6) 25-15, 23-25, 25-19, 25-23 in a Los Padres League match at Morro Bay.

Phoebe Huggins led Cabrillo with 12 digs and five kills. Chloe Huggins racked up eight digs and five kills. Christina Goodchild had 12 digs for the Conquistadores. Kolby Edman made seven.

Cabrillo plays at first-place Santa Ynez Thursday night in a regular season finale. Morro Bay plays Templeton then.

Coastal Christian 3, Valley Christian Academy 2

The Conquerors edged the Lions (3-6, 3-6) 25-20, 20-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-13 in a Coast Valley League match at VCA.

Alisa Fortier (eight) and Caitlin Salinas (six) were the Lions' kill leaders. Koreena Calderon served 10 aces.

VCA's Vivian-Leigh Morales made more than 80 sets and digs combined.

CIF girls golf

CIF-SS Northern Region Individuals

OJAI - Righetti High School's Makayla Mier and Mareon Smit made it through the first round of the CIF Southern Section girls golf playoffs Tuesday Afternoon at the Soule Park Golf Club.

Mier shot a 75 and Smit a 79 at the Southern Section's Northern Region individual playoffs - the cut was 81 - to advance to next Thursday's second round at the Talega Golf Club in San Clemente.

St. Joseph High's Danielle Gillaspy is also moving to the next round after shooting a 78.

Other local golfers who advanced include Santa Ynez's Maddison Shean (79), Arroyo Grande's Stina Hansson (80) San Luis Obispo's Alessia Weckenmann (81) and Cabrillo's Morgan Salm (81).

Missing the cut were Santa Ynez's Kristin Henno (84), Righetti's Dani O'Keefe (85) and St. Joseph's Marissa Gutierrez (87).

Boys JV water polo

Pioneer Valley 11, Nipomo 10 (OT)

The junior varsity Panthers picked up their first-ever PAC-7 league boys water polo victory with an 11-10 double overtime victory over Nipomo's JV team Tuesday afternoon in Santa Maria.

Jose Pompa led the first-year program (2-18, 1-10 PAC-7) to victory with six goals. Brian Hurd chipped in three goals with Damien Franco and Salvator Franco each adding one goal.

College men's soccer

Hancock 4, Citrus 2

GLENDORA - The Bulldogs (3-5-3, 5-8-4) spotted the Owls the first two goals, then scored four times in the last 26 minutes.

Carlos Aguilera scored the game winner on an assist from Oscar Torres. Rosario Bras scored the Bulldogs' first and last goals. Reserve Channing Stephenson tied the game for Hancock with an unassisted goal in the 66th minute. Hancock goal keeper John Carlo Boyle made seven saves.

College women's volleyball

Hancock 3, Oxnard 0

Allison Armstrong hammered six kills and made nine digs as the Bulldogs (2-4, 6-9) swept the Condors 25-21, 25-18, 25-13 in a Western State Conference match at Hancock College's Joe White Memorial Gymnasium.

Staci McCracken bolstered the Bulldogs with nine digs, eight assists and five service aces.

Anakela Francisco racked up 19 digs and two aces. Tiffany Isel served five aces, and Danielle Rydberg made five blocks.