Cate High girls tennis advanced to the CIF Division 3 semifinals with a win on Monday while Santa Barbara High had its season come to a close in the Division 2 tournament.
The Rams took down Mark Keppel while the Dons fell to Crossroads in the quarterfinals.
Cate 12, Mark Keppel 6 (Division 3)
The Rams dominated doubles play en route to a victory over Mark Keppel, the defending CIF-SS Division 4 champion.
“I’m so proud of my girls for their performance today,” Cate coach Trevor Thorpe said. “They played their hearts out, stuck to our game plan, and had complete faith in each other and in what we were trying to do to win the match.”
In the first round, Cate got doubles wins from the duos of Lisa Hasebe/Frances Davis, Colette Chang/Reyna Takahashi and Sophie Alijani/Elsie Chamberlain to carry a 4-2 lead into the second round.
The doubles success continued in the second round with yet another sweep and Claire Bianchi added on a singles win to maintain a lead.
The overall win was finalized in the final round with more doubles wins to make it a perfect 9-0 on the day in doubles play for the Rams.
“The bottom line is, Cate girls’ tennis is 100% committed to the team result, however, we can best achieve it,” Thorpe said. “We know that every single playoff school in our CIF Division is bigger than ours, but it’s unlikely we’ll face a team that’s more close-knit or dedicated to each other.”
The Rams (15-0) will take on Cerritos High on the road on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the CIF semifinals.
Crossroads 9, Santa Barbara 9 (Crossroads win by games 74-71) (Division 2)
The Dons engaged in a tight, three-hour battle with Crossroads, falling by way of games after the first round of points ended in a 9-9 tie.
Santa Barbara High found plenty of success in doubles play, capturing seven doubles points. The final two of the team’s points came from Nicole Buist in singles play.
Buist and Crossroads’ top singles player Gaby Shiao put on a show at the top court, battling back-and-forth until Shiao secured a backhand winner to seal the set and earn a crucial point for the team.
“When three hours of tennis comes down to a three-game differential, it’s apparent that the two teams were extremely well matched and the quality of tennis was very good,” Dons coach Danny Echt said.
Santa Barbara ends the season with an overall record of 20-7.
Calabasas 12, Dos Pueblos 6 (Division 2)
The Chargers’ season also came to an end in the quarterfinals of the Division 2 tournament, falling to Calabasas, the top seed in the bracket.
“[Calabasas] was a super talented team with really no weak spots,” Dos Pueblos coach Rob Schiff said. “I was proud of how hard we fought and tried to execute our game plan. It was quite an accomplishment for us to get this far.”
Mel Mayo wrapped up her stellar season with a pair of wins while the pairing of Eva Amendolagine and Zella Cassidy turned in a solid performance with victories in two of their three sets.
“It was a great season and we are already looking forward to next year,” Schiff said.
With the loss, Dos Pueblos ends the year with a 14-6 record.
