The Cate, Santa Barbara High, Laguna Blanca and Carpinteria High girls tennis teams punched their tickets to the CIF-SS championship with semifinal victories on Wednesday.
While the Rams and Warriors will take on out-of-town opponents, Santa Barbara High and Laguna Blanca will square off in an all-local CIF-SS Division 5 championship on Thursday at 1 p.m. at Cate School.
Cate will take on Campbell Hall for the CIF-SS Division 2 title on Thursday at 3 p.m. at the University of Redlands, while Carpinteria High has a matchup with Pacifica Christian for the Division 6 championship on Thursday at 11:45 a.m. at the Claremont Club.
Cate 9, Calabasas 9 (79-65 Cate W)
The Rams pulled out a tight semifinal battle with Calabasas by way of games won on Wednesday in Carpinteria.
The Cate singles attack was key in the semifinal victory, as Jade Wang, Ivy Huang and Elizabeth Jayich all went 2-1 to total six points.
In doubles play, Claire Tang/Edie Abbott, Lisa Hasebe/Kiki Chang and Elly Edwards/Chelsea Newlove earned one win apiece and collected several games that proved to be crucial.
“Calabasas threw up a tough challenge for us today, but again we showed our class, taking an early lead and maintaining it throughout the remainder of the match,” Cate head coach Trevor Thorpe said. It’s hard to go out against a team that’s got a D1 college-bound player to anchor the lineup, but again we overcame top-end strength with across-the-board depth.
“Huge credit goes to all three of our singles players today, who were laser-focused from start to finish.”
Santa Barbara High 14, La Cañada 4
The Dons earned a spot in the Division 5 championship with a convincing semifinal win on Wednesday in Santa Barbara.
“The team had hunger and desire like I’ve never seen before and that translated in their focus, alertness and thus sharp and quick footwork and quick reaction times,” Santa Barbara High head coach Shane Carmody said.Â
“The momentum from their earlier rounds keeps building as they head into the finals to face their toughest opponent yet in the Laguna Blanca Owls.”
Both Karen Monroy and Iris Heckes went 3-0 in their singles matches for the Dons, while Hali Wight went 2-0 and Stella Malina rounded out the singles sweep with a victory of her own.
The Santa Barbara High duo of Kate Hashbarger/Lucy Kronberg also turned in a 3-0 performance, and Violet Marr/Kana Wolf added two wins to cap off the team’s dominant win.
“Our team continues to elevate each other more and more each round and the unshakable confidence and positivity accumulates more and more allowing pressure to have less of an effect and leave more room for taking risks and being brave in close points or pressure situations,” Carmody said.
Laguna Blanca 11, Esperanza 7
The Owls punched their ticket to the title matchup with the Dons with a semifinal victory over Esperanza.
“Everything went exactly according to plan. Every player executed beautifully,” Laguna Blanca head coach Jeff Thompson said. “I love seeing this team handling a bigger stage and bigger moments each step of this playoff tournament.”
Capistrano Valley 11, Dos Pueblos 7
The Chargers had their season come to a close with a loss to Capistrano Valley in the CIF-SS Division 4 semifinals on Thursday.
Capistrano Valley will take on the California Academy for Math and Science for the championship on Thursday at 12 p.m. at the University of Redlands.
Dos Pueblos has not provided information.
