The Rams were unable to advance to their second-consecutive CIF Final, falling 8-10 in a 4hr match to visiting Campbell Hall. The Studio City powerhouse program now stands as the hot favorite to win this year’s D2 title on Friday.
How it Happened
Ivy Huang, playing under-the-weather, was absolutely defiant of her circumstances in her first two rounds, winning two 6-0 sets (including one over a very strong player with wins at the UTR 5+ level). She battled to the bitter end against Campbell Hall #1 Audyssie James, who has recorded wins over UTR 7.3, 6.5, 6.3, and 6.1 players already this season.
Claire Bianchi played the best tennis of her season, battling gamely with the top 2 from Campbell Hall and picking up a 6-0 win against the #3. Claire Tang, also playing at less than 100%, was equally impressive with a 6-0 win and freshman Elly Edwards slotted into the singles lineup to take on the top-2, allowing Tang to save energy for the must-win match.
With 4 wins in singles, Cate had accomplished its objective with a strategic lineup that placed #2 and #3 singles players into the doubles lineup with minimal loss. Said players, Jade Wang/Lisa Hasebe, and Reyna Takahashi/Colette Chang nearly pulled off the upset wins against the Campbell Hall #1’s, who were on a 27-match win-streak going into the day.
Those 5-7 sets kept Cate in the hunt for a win on games in a 9-9 tie; as the final round began, Cate was down 7-8 in sets, but exactly even on games (62-62). After taking a 6-2 win in the first round, #3 doubles team Elsie Chamberlain and Chelsea Newlove took 2 critical games from the Campbell Hall #1-pair. Shortly after that result, Chang and Takahashi recorded a 6-3 win, bringing the match to 8-9, 70-71.
A two-game winning margin for Hasebe and Wang would be enough to secure the overall win by a single game, but the pair fell behind early. Despite trailing, the current TVL doubles individuals champion team clawed their way back into the match, finally leveling it at 5-5. Due to all the closely contested doubles sets across the board, this would be a pause-point in the match, with the teams and their fans relocating to Santa Barbara Polo & Tennis Club to finish the match on their lighted courts.
Hasebe came out firing after the 30-minute interlude, making 4 of 6 first-serves and lifting Cate to a 6-5 lead. Despite going down 15-40, Hasebe and Wang again clawed their way back to deuce, then fought off an ad-point. With deuce-plus-one scoring, this brought a match-point to Cate, with Campbell Hall serving.
It was not to be though, as a 9-ball exchange ended with the Campbell Hall volleyer collecting the point with an accidental winner off the side of the racquet that just cleared the net.
Just like that, instead of a bid for the CIF D2 Championship, Hasebe and Wang were instead fighting for their playoff lives in a tie-breaker. The breaker started off evenly, but Campbell Hall secured the mini-break at 4-2 and rattled off 3 more points consecutively to end the match.
Coach Thorpe’s Comments:
There’s just no easy way to say it’s the end of the season for Cate Girls’ Tennis; I need time to process this loss just as much as the girls. We really played our hearts out for each other every set today, coming to within a single point of clinching a second-consecutive CIF Finals berth.
The team played ferociously and we were well-supported by school faculty, administrators, fellow students, and our excellent assistant coach, Mark Polowczak. We have a lot for which to be proud and even more for which to be thankful.
We finish the season 17-2 overall, with wins over D2’s #2 and #10-seeded teams, as well as wins over D4, D5, and D6 semifinalists, and CIF Central Section’s D2 Champions Santa Ynez.
I hope that this young team will be able to learn and improve as a result of both the successes of this playoff run, as well as the bitter defeat. We started 4 freshman, 2 sophomores, 2 juniors, and just a single senior today, which means we’ve really only just begun with this group. The best lies ahead.
Thorpe Tennis 