Culver's Romina Clemente beats Penn's JoHanna Manningham in the No. 1 singles. Tribune Photo/GENE KAISER

AL LESAR
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Power may have been the difference between good and great Wednesday, but health can't be overrated.

Romina Clemente's power game caused problems for Penn's No. 1 singles player JoHanna Manningham and set the tone for Culver Girls Academy's 4-1 regional tennis championship victory.

The win earned the 12-5 Eagles a berth in Saturday's LaPorte Semistate against Elkhart Central at 11 a.m. (EDT).

Penn finishes at 14-4.

While Clemente's 6-1, 6-3 win was critical, the biggest impact on Wednesday's match may have occurred Tuesday.

During the tiebreaker of her third set in her regional semifinal match against Clay, Penn's No. 2 singles player Heather Anderson stumbled and fell. She came up limping, but finished the match and won.

Wednesday, she showed up for the championship with her right ankle heavily taped, limiting her mobility.

"(Anderson's) ankle was pretty bad," Penn coach Vaughn Smith said. "If Heather's healthy, that No. 2 singles is going to be really close."

Instead, Jessica Kutch, who won the pivotal point against Plymouth Tuesday, won handily, 6-0, 6-0.

"(No.) 2 singles was the lynch pin in the whole regional tournament for us," CGA coach Alan Loehr said. "(Kutch) has been a pleasant surprise for us." Clemente, who hasn't lost a match this season, and Kutch got off the court early, setting the table for one more victory to ice the match.

Penn's No. 1 doubles team of Cara Pond and Lizzie Clark won 6-4, 6-3, to advance in the individual tourney and add some drama to the team outcome.

After winning the first set 7-5, CGA's No. 2 doubles team of Jocelyn Kinsey and Katie Capron lost a 4-1 lead in the second set, but recovered to pull out another 7-5 win and the critical team point.

"Our team has really been playing well lately," said Clemente, a junior from Florida who was fourth in the individual state tourney a year ago. "If I can get off the court with a win, it takes a lot of pressure off everyone else."

Clemente's experience showed against Penn's freshman Manningham."Romina's plan was to hit cross-court the first two or three games, then come out hitting bullets," Loehr said. "Every time she fired, she didn't miss. She took a good player out of her game early."

"Romina just overpowered JoHanna," Smith said. "(Manningham) might be able to hit two or three back, but that fourth one isn't coming back."

"I like being in control of the point," said Clemente, a 3.9 GPA student who has an academic scholarship to the Academy. "My serves helped a lot. They kept (Manningham) off balance."

In the individual doubles match, Heidi Keiser and Carly Plumlee of Plymouth beat Caroline Shakour and Stephanie Scholl of St. Joseph's, 7-5, 7-5.Penn's Pond and Clark will play Plumlee and Keiser at Clay either Friday at 2 p.m. or Saturday at 10 a.m. Several conflicts need to be worked out.

SINGLES: 1. Romina Clemente (C) beat JoHanna Manningham 6-1, 6-3; 2. Jessica Kutch (C) beat Heather Anderson 6-0, 6-0; 3. Brady Banks (C) beat Cara Rectanus 7-5, 6-2.

DOUBLES: 1. Cara Pond-Lizzie Clark (P) beat Claire Strebinger-Alex Madard 6-4, 6-3; 2. Jocelyn Kinsey-Katie Capron (C) beat MacKenzie Austgen-Sophie Lauer 7-5, 7-5.

INDIVIDUAL DOUBLES: Heidi Keiser-Carly Plumlee (Plymouth) beat Caroline Shakour-Stephanie Scholl (St. Joseph's) 7-5, 7-5.