Jani Carmona was not having a particularly good week off the tennis courts, heading into Tuesday afternoon/s Los Padres League match against Santa Maria.

But when the junior stepped onto the courts at the Minami Center, she made herself feel better by sweeping her three sets, including a hard-fought 7-5 nod over Santa Maria/s Victoria Regalado in the top singles matchup.

&#8220I think I was fired up because I haven/t had the best week,C said Carmona, who tallied half of Lompoc/s set victories in a 12-6 loss to the Saints. &#8220I think about all my problems and then just relax and hit the ball on the court.C

After her opening victory over Regalado that lasted an hour and 16 minutes, Carmona won a tough 6-3 decision over Saints/ No. 2 Ariana Cadena and then finished off her night with a 6-1 win over No. 3 Veronica Garcia.

&#8220I think I did good, but I should have hit a little more through the ball. I was kind of patty-caking with them,C said Carmona, whose squad dropped to 2-10 in LPL play and 3-14 overall. &#8220I love my team.C

Picking up two team points for Lompoc were the No. 1 duo of senior Crystal Hernandez and junior Amanda Chastaim 7 who rebounded from a 6-3 opening loss to Santa Maria/s No. 1 pair of Maty Martinez and Sandra Zamora to win their next two sets.

Unfortunately, those were the only two sets won by the Braves in doubles play. Martinez and Zamora swept for the Saints, while the No. 2s of Elia Santiago and Mia Tomilloso as well as the No. 3s of Kristel Rubio and Grachel Luna took two of three sets.

&#8220We needed to get our five in doubles and we didn/t, and I was hoping to get two more in singles,C said Braves/ coach Loretta Jensen, whose squad lost only 10-8 in its previous clash with Santa Maria. &#8220We only got two in doubles so that was disappointing.C

Junior Kyla Connigham picked up the only other Lompoc team point with an impressive 6-0 set victory over Garcia in the matchup of No. 3s.

&#8220Santa Maria always fights hard. They have a great set of girls, a great coach, and the better team won today,C said Jensen. &#8220We/ll still keep working. We/re not giving up.C

Up next for the Braves is a Thursday league match at rival Cabrillo beginning at 3:30 p.m.

For the Saints (3-9, 4-10), who joggled their lineup to produce better results against Lompoc, Regalado and Cadena both won two of three singles sets with Garcia adding one victory.

&#8220We did change our lineup a little bit. The first time it was 10-8 against Lompoc and that was a little too close for comfort. It worked out well for us,C said Santa Maria coach Ginny Barnett. &#8220Watching them today, their ground strokes were better, they were balling better, they played better as a team. Every area they improved on and, definitely, the outcome showed that.C

Santa Maria is looking for the same outcome when it faces Pioneer Valley next on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

LPL volleyball

Pioneer Valley 3, Lompoc 0

At Lompoc High, the Panthers gave star Niki Doyle the night off but still had enough for the winless Braves. Game scores were 25-20, 25-23, 25-13.

Katelyn Lynch led Lompoc with six kills, Laura Schelvis put up nine assists and Lynch and Alyssa Ray came up with five digs each.

&#8220We were able to maintain our playing system tonight,C said Lompoc coach Don Savella. &#8220Our ability to minimize unforced errors was the key to our staying close.C

The Braves, now 0-11, travel to Santa Maria on Thursday.

Sports writer John McReynolds contributed to this report.

October 26, 2005