Reaching the finals of the NorCals tournament on Nov. 19, the girls’ tennis team lost for the fourth time this season to rival Monta Vista, but this time they were close—so close—to victory.
In the first two rounds, the girls’ defeated Tamalpais 7-0 on the morning of Nov. 19 and Granite Bay 4-3 on Nov. 18.
At the finals match, the team faced their league rival once again, but this time, they were closer than ever to winning. The girls’ lost by just a few points this time. The score was tied at 3-3 with wins from No. 1 singles Crystal Yen, No. 2 singles Kalyani Narayan and No. 3 doubles Evaline Ju and Tiffany Tu. The NorCal title came down to a match between No. 2 doubles junior Cori Posadas and freshman Arathi Sabada and Monta Vista’s Angella Qian and Sabrina Mui. In split sets, the Matadors’ eked out a 7-5 victory.
“We came up a bit short, but the girls put up a great fight against a very tough team and hopefully the players learned a lot from this experience,” Coach Tom Uyhehara said.
In the earlier CCS tournament, Monta Vista also prevailed in a close match.
With a new CCS format, each team had to send three singles players and three doubles teams to play in round robin style. There was a total of 18 matches and if tied, the tie would be broken by counting the number for games won.
The girls tied Monta Vista 9-9 in matches but lost 79-73 in games.
Uyehara was proud of the team’s effort.
“All around there was solid playing and the matches were tough,” he said. “At the beginning of the season we started off a bit slow but as the season progressed, we picked up our game and made it to CCS finals.”
After defeating Mitty 11-7 on Nov. 14 in CCS semifinals, the team qualified for the CIF-USTA NorCals tournament in Sacramento on Nov. 18.
“I want to congratulate the girls. For the fourth straight year, the girls reached the finals of CCS and qualified for the NorCal Tournament,” Uyehara said.
In the first two rounds of CCS on Nov. 9 and 12, the girls easily defeated Carlmont 17-1 and Sacred Heart 12-3. Despite injuries and absent players, the team pulled through in the end, progressing to the finals.
“The girls had huge wins. Florin [the assistant coach] and I were very proud of their efforts out on the courts,” Uyehara said.
Parent attendance greatly increased the energy and raised the spirits of the players.
“It was great to see so many parents and coaches out there supporting the players,” Uyehara said.
During CCS, the girls’ had to rely on solid doubles teams in order to secure wins.
“No. 3 doubles [Tu and Ju] did extremely well in CCS. Evaline is really consistent and fast while Tiffany is really good at the net,” Yen said. “They compliment each other's playing styles really well.”
The girls’ wrapped up their season as second in the league and second in Northern California.
“Overall, the season was a success even though we were always the runner-up to our league rivals,” Uyehara said. “We played Monta Vista tough and it was very evenly matched they just had a bit more depth then us. We are still crowned one of the top two teams in Northern California.”
