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Julia Gan and McKenna Madden Compete at 2014 CIF Individuals Regional Event

After qualifying for CIF Individuals via the Tri-Valley League tournament, Gan and Madden represented the Cate School in two matches.

In the first round of play, the Cate team drew Frontier League #1’s from Villanova Prep. Wasting no time and giving nothing away, Gan/Madden clinched a second-round berth with a 6-0, 6-0 victory.

Julia Gan and McKenna Madden win at CIF Individuals 2014

After a short break, they took the court again to face much more seasoned competition in the form of Thousand Oaks duo Mahli Silpachai and Emily Ackerman. The two freshman are both ranked in the top-25 in California and top-150 in the country in their class after years of competitive national-level tournament play.

The match was tense in the first few games of play, with the Cate girls losing the first four games, despite several deuce-games. Gan held serve with the help of Madden’s aggressive poaching to put Cate on the scoreboard, but the Thousand Oaks pair went on a run.

Through the middle part of the match, the Cate pair struggled to find a winning strategy, but found their feet again at 0-5 in the second set. With their backs against the wall, Julia Gan and McKenna Madden rallied to win the next three games on exciting, offensively-minded play from the baseline and net.

Silpachai/Ackerman were then able to regain their composure and serve out the match, but not before the Cate girls made it clear that they were capable of playing on-level with their higher-ranked opponents.

The Thousand Oaks team would go on to win their next match by a greater margin and will play in the final rounds of CIF Individuals next week. 2014 Cate Regional Girls Individual Doubles Draw

In other local news, Carpinteria High senior Kelsie Bryant finally put three wins together to get her shot at the final rounds of CIF singles play. Bryant entered the tournament via her Tri-Valley League title, and so we will be following closely and cheering her on as she represents our league the final CIF tournament.

Cate Girls’ 2014 Season Roundup

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.

Cate Wins CIF D2 Wildcard Round, Advances into Main Draw

The Cate Rams defeated Fullerton’s Indians 11-7 in Fullerton today. This victory means another first for Cate athletics brought about by our girls’ tennis team. Earlier this season, Athletic Director Wade Ransom explained in an assembly that this team is the only team in Cate athletics history (as far as anyone can recall) that has played in a division as high as CIF D2. After today, we can add a playoff appearance to that marker.

Fullerton High, 12-3 in the regular season, featured Citrus Belt League champion Mikayla Rinker. A sophomore, Rinker has regularly featured in the top-300 of her class in the country. We have our own ringer in Julia Gan, who’s season record stood at 29-4 coming into the match, and the collective strength of an experienced team.

In the first round of singles play, Gan went up 4-3 on Rinker, but was unable to hold the lead. However, she was able to manage two 6-0 victories, which would prove critical to the final result.

Doubles was an all-Cate, all-day sort of affair, with a clean sweep of the board. Senior captains Kate Dehlendorf/Victoria Herman won 6-0, 6-1, 6-1. Stacked singles player McKenna Madden and Summer Christensen picked up a trio of 6-1 victories at the #2 position and Emma Liberman/Cecelia Sanborn held down the #3 spot with impressive victories of 6-1, 6-3, 6-2.

In a cruel twist of fate (or perhaps just poor rules on wildcard draw selection), Cate will have to turn around and head several hours south through Los Angeles again tomorrow to play CIF #2-seed Murrieta Valley, who carry a perfect 19-0 record and a number of national ranked junior players into the match-up. For the Cate girls, though, there has never been any question this season about what to do when faced with adversity. Time to lower the heads and give ’em the horns!

Cate’s Top Duo Wins Twice, Qualifies for CIF Individuals

Juniors Julia Gan and McKenna Madden advanced to the finals of the TVL doubles competition with two straight-set wins.

In the quarterfinals they won 6-3, 6-0 against the #2 team from Carpinteria Melissa Souza/Emily Saito. In the semis they beat last year’s Frontier League doubles champions Olivia Adelman/Inga Parker from Nordhoff 7-5, 6-1. The Cate duo will play Sophie Aulicino and Jacey Katch of La Reina for the TVL title on Wednesday at 1pm at Carpinteria High.

Senior Cate duo Kate Dehlendorf and Victoria Herman lost a heart-breaking quarterfinal match against Carp #1’s Lesly Zapata/Natalie Saito 7-4 in the third-set tiebreaker.

Eva Herman won a 3-hour quarterfinal match before falling to La Reina #1 Natalie Greco. She will play Ukranian transfer Diana Khutortsova of La Reina for 3rd place and the CIF alternate spot at the same time on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Pharibe Pope lost a spirited 6-4, 6-2 match against Khutortsova in the quarterfinal round.

Senior Cate duo Kate Dehlendorf and Victoria Herman lost a heart-breaking quarterfinal match against Carp #1’s Lesly Zapata/Natalie Saito 7-4 in the third-set tiebreaker.

Cate Girls’ Win 17-1 on Parents’ Weekend

In a comprehensive victory that featured wins from all 13 members of the 2014 girls’ tennis team, Cate put the hurt on Laguna Blanca, despite their impressive 11-3 record. Continue reading “Cate Girls’ Win 17-1 on Parents’ Weekend”

Cate Drops Nail-Biter to Carp High 8-10

At the end of two rounds, the scored stood at 6-6 (51-51 on games). Kelsie Bryant and Julia Gan traded 6-0 wins making the score 7-7 and still tied on games (57-57). From there, it didn’t go to plan for us.

I give Charles Bryant and his team a lot of credit. They know how to close out a match. We had them 9-6 in our first meeting and they swept the remaining matches, and it was a very similar outcome today.

I know each of my girls gave themselves completely to this match, so while we are disappointed, we can be proud of our performance. When you do everything you can and you still don’t come out on top, there’s nothing more to do than salute your opponent and start working towards a different outcome in the future.

We’ll be looking to seal the final CIF spot for the TVL on Thursday with a win over Malibu. Then, we’ll begin preparing for league individuals and hopefully a solid performance in the CIF playoffs.

Cate Rams Cruise to 14-4 Win Over D1 San Marcos Royals

Cate was led by juniors Julia Gan and McKenna Madden, as well as sophomore Eva Herman, going eight-for-eight in their singles matches. In doubles, new pairing Summer Christensen and Pharibe Pope pulled off a clean sweep (7-5, 6-1, 6-2).

Cate girls’ tennis is now 6-4 (3-3 in TVL) and has an opportunity to draw even with Carpinteria High for second place in the Tri-Valley League next Tuesday at Carpinteria. Also, we are having a GREAT time doing it! Thanks for all the support parents and Cate School!!! The balloon says it all…

Cate Rams Win Again, Progress towards critical Eight-Day Stretch

Cate was again dominant against Tri-Valley League opponent Nordhoff High School, winning by the familiar score of 15-3. The Rams (now 5-3 overall, 3-2 in TVL) have scored 15-3 in all five of their wins to date. Continue reading “Cate Rams Win Again, Progress towards critical Eight-Day Stretch”

Cate Girls Thrash Malibu Sharks in Tri-Valley League Match

We played a complete match today. Malibu has lost a few key players since last year, but I was very impressed with the way my girls played today. All 13 Cate girls played in the 15-3 win and it was apparent that the things we’ve been drilling in practice are starting to carry over into match situations. That’s exactly what we’re going to need to beat La Reina and Carpinteria to fight our way back into the playoff picture. Continue reading “Cate Girls Thrash Malibu Sharks in Tri-Valley League Match”

Cate Loses Heartbreaker Against Two-Time Defending CIF D5 Champs

The score was Cate: 9, Carpinteria High: 6. The game totals had Cate +7, but one more win would guarantee victory. Nearly three hours into play, only the third round of doubles play remained. Continue reading “Cate Loses Heartbreaker Against Two-Time Defending CIF D5 Champs”