Seven local prep teams steam into CIF playoffs this week though none of them have the opportunity to open at home.

In Division V girls tennis, The Los Padres League co-champion Cabrillo Conquistadores, the first league champ on the hill since 1993, will open play this afternoon at Orange, the No. 3 team from the Golden West League.

The contest will not be a first round affair, but rather a duel over a wild card berth and the chance to play Valley Christian of Cerritos in the first round Thursday.

The Orange Panthers sport a modest 9-6 record, 7-5 in league play.

&#8220We/re usually in the middle of the pack, from third to fifth in our seven-team league,C said coach Mike Wenkart Monday. The Panthers finished fourth last season and did not qualify for CIF.

&#8220I/m pleased we have a home game and it should be a competitive match,C Wenkart said, noting that neither Cabrillo nor Valley Christian is seeded.

Cabrillo, 11-3 in league, 11-5 overall, hopes to duplicate or improve on their trip to CIF/s quarterfinal round last year. Its lack of seeding comes wholly by chance.

Santa Ynez, with whom Cabrillo tied for the league title, is seeded No. 2. Morro Bay, another LPL co-champ is seeded No. 4.

Prior to the season, all LPL teams drew numbers and of the four co-champions Santa Ynez had the best number, Morro Bay second, St. Joseph third, and Cabrillo fourth. They were seeded by the CIF accordingly.

St. Joseph also plays a wild card but the Knights get to stay home where they play Whitney of Cerritos, the No. 3 team from the Academy League.

Morro Bay and Santa Ynez bypass the wild cards and proceed directly to the first round Thursday, and both with home matches.

&#8220It/s not what we wanted obviously,C said Cabrillo coach Dan Troup Monday. &#8220I thought that being we had been ranked in the top seven all year, I hoped we could escape a play-in game but there/s a ton of play-in games. Nobody feels sorry for us so we just have to stick to business.C

A victory today will mean another long trip Thursday to Valley Christian which has received an undisputed league titleholder/s home opener.

For today/s match, Troup is making a personnel change, or revising an earlier alteration.

&#8220I/m going to go back to a lineup we were using earlier, putting Summer Miller back in singles and putting Lindsey Johnson and Ashley Brady back together,C he said. &#8220I think that/s our strongest team. We/re stronger in doubles. Ashley and Lindsey are my third strongest doubles team. I thought >let/s go back to what got us here. That/s the lineup that got us the co-league championship.C

Troup played two matches with Johnson in No. 3 singles while Brady was unavailable after oral surgery.

Troup also announced LPL all-league team selections headed by Subi Sundaram of Santa Ynez (31-0) who was named singles MVP. Three first teamers in singles were Cabrillo/s Lisa Schutz, St. Joseph/s Ane McPike and Morro Bay/s Alisa Royer. Cabrillo/s Ellen Monkemeier was named to the second team.

Doubles MVP is Heidi Havlicek/Lauren Vance who posted a sparkling 30-4 record.

First team team doubles squads include Madalyn Doudna/Elysha McLain of Cabrillo and two Morro Bay duos.

Lindsey Johnson was accorded Honorable Mention as was doubles team member Crystal Hernandez of Lompoc.

Divison IV water polo

The Cabrillo water polo team, a two-way co-champion, will not have to deal with wild cards nor with four-hour bus rides 7 only two hours.

In water polo, Div. IV is regionally-based. Malibu and Westlake are the furthest south.

Coach Joel Jory/s squad, roadrunners ever, travel to Malibu for Friday/s opening round.

&#8220I don/t think it/s a bad first round matchup for us,C Jory said Monday comparing his bracket with that of co-league champ Santa Ynez.

&#8220Santa Ynez got Agoura who was ranked 3-4-5 all year. Malibu is unranked.C

Cabrillo lost narrowly to Malibu in the first match of the season.

Golf

The Lompoc High girls golf team plays in CIF/s Northern Divisional at River Ridge Golf Club in Oxnard teeing off this morning at 8 a.m.

Cross country

Boys and girls cross country teams from both Cabrillo and Lompoc will compete Saturday in the CIF preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College in Duarte.

Sports writer John McReynolds can be reached at 737-1055, or jmcreynolds@lompocrecord.com

November 8, 2005