Cate girls tennis made a huge mark on the Tri-Valley League Individuals tournament.
Freshman Grace Fuss swept her two sets in the quarterfinals, but faced a much stiffer match in the semifinals. La Reina’s Tiara Nourishad forced Fuss into a third set tiebreak, and at one point was up 2-4. Fuss came back to win the set 10-7 and take home one of the two singles berths for CIF.
Cate earned both doubles berths behind stellar play from the teams of Summer Christensen and Sarah Polowczak and sisters Jackie and Carol Cai.
Christensen and Polowczak moved to an absurd 23-0 on the season, winning their first match without dropping a game, and winning their second 6-0, 6-2 over Foothill Tech’s Summer and Sherlynn Khouvilay.
“Summer and Sarah have literally been an unbeatable combination all season long,” said Cate coach Trevor Thorpe. “They make a great combination, with Summer’s powerful baseline game and Sarah essentially owning the net.”
The Cai sisters breezed through doubles play, dropping only three games over four sets.
The Cai sisters will take on teammates Christensen and Polowczak in the finals at Cate, and Fuss will face the undefeated Sophia Aulicino on Thursday at Pierpont Tennis Club in Ventura.
— Noozhawk sports reporter Christian Eckert can be reached at ceckert@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports and @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.