Cate girls tennis opened their 2019 season account with a 10-8 win over Santa Barbara High School.

Cate overcame SBHS, a school ten times its size, with dominant play at the top singles and doubles positions.

Senior Grace Fuss was a perfect 18-0 in games across her three sets of play, while the senior/junior duo of Carol Cai and Fritze Mayer won theirs 6-3, 6-3, 6-0.

Cate sophomores also played a crucial role in the victory. Aminah Hill chipped in two 6-2 sets, before dropping her final set 4-6 against SBHS #1 Sophia Ostravany.

The 10th and match-clinching set was won by sophomores Julianna Forry and Maesa Vonkusolkit, who were both making their varsity debuts on the day. The 6-4 win was all the more impressive having come against the top SBHS team of Hannah Mendez and Natalie Brewer.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments

I couldn’t have asked for a better start to our season. We shook off some first-match nerves and got a lot of great match-play against a solid opponent. 

Of course, coming out with the win makes it even better. We’ve got a goal of being the top girls’ tennis team in Santa Barbara County this season, and this was a solid first step towards that goal.

Our experienced players really carried us through the early rounds, but we got some nice wins from younger players, too. I was really impressed by the way Maesa Vonkusolkit rallied from losing her first two matches and Julianna Forry was ready to step in and take full advantage of the opportunity joining Maesa in the final round. To get the match-clinching win from a team who have never played a varsity doubles match before is huge.

What’s Ahead

The Rams will have another chance to lay claim to that title on Thursday, when they play away at Dos Pueblo’s High School at 3pm.