For those of you following my blog for your playoff updates, I have somewhat bad news. We lost over a week ago to the undefeated #2-seed, Murrieta Valley. That’s where the bad news ends, really, because we fought them to a 6-12 score…the closest match they’ve had all season.

In fact, when the dust settled, with Pharibe Pope coming back from 4-5 down to win her last match as a Cate player, it felt a lot like winning.

We had a great drive back, thanks to Wade Ransom’s chartering of a private bus and a fun stop at Slater’s 50/50 in Pasadena. He has been a great support to us throughout the season, always making sure I/we had the things needed to produce great results. Since we bowed out of the playoffs, our Tri-Valley League stablemates La Reina and Carpinteria both made 2nd round exits, but Murrieta Valley is playing in the CIF D2 finals as I write (guess which team has come closest to beating them so far in the playoffs?!).

In D5, Thacher has been mostly unchallenged and is currently playing for the championship, which proves that Cate could be competing for a CIF title if we were playing in a division with similarly-sized schools.

On Monday, we had our end-of-season team dinner, my first as head coach at Cate. We graduate five seniors, several of whom I have been coaching for four years now. There was a general frustration that we couldn’t just stick together as a team for the rest of the year, which speaks volumes to how much fun we had and how well we get on.

Still, we will have to let Kate Dehlendorf, Maddie Gordon, Victoria Herman, Pharibe Pope, and Kate Schroeder go on and dominate the college world just the same as they elevate “the rock” with their mere presence.

Special recognition also goes to our 2014 award winners:

Team Awards
Most Improved – Summer Christensen
Coach’s Award – Pharibe Pope
Most Valuable Player – Julia Gan
Best Captains Ever – Kate Dehlendorf, Victoria Herman

TVL All-League Awards
1st Team Doubles – McKenna Madden/Julia Gan
2nd Team Singles – Eva Herman, Pharibe Pope
2nd Team Doubles – Kate Dehlendorf/Victoria Herman

CIF Individuals Participants
(Results to Come) – McKenna Madden/Julia Gan

Now, I would be remiss without pointing out another record-holder amongst us. This year, Maki Kobayashi was our lone freshman. She not only improved her tennis game, but also set and then broke the record for most tennis balls held in one’s skirt/shorts. For all you readers, the record stands at 54 balls. Maki is a trained professional. We cannot be held responsible for what happens if you try this at home!Finally, I want to mention how awesome the parent-support was this year. I really appreciated help with snacks/drinks from our local parents and it was great seeing all of you who came from further afield for our parents’ weekend match. Thank you for your support throughout this great season.