Cate d. Carpinteria 17-1
Cate performed well in both singles and doubles during their 17-1 victory today at Carpinteria High.
Sophomore Sarah Polowczak got her first singles start of the season and came out of the gates at a full gallop with three 6-0 sets. Grace Fuss continued her impressive freshman season, picking up another sweep, and Katherine Grossman added two sets to the singles tally. Continue reading “Cate Splits Two Contests, Continues to Compete at High Level”
Cate Girls’ Tennis picked up two more convincing wins in this week’s matches against league opponents and move to 5-0 on the season.
On Tuesday, La Reina came to Cate Mesa with two strong singles players (Sophia Aulicino, Tiara Nourishad), who took 5-of-6 sets, but failed to pick up a solitary set in doubles play. Grace Fuss won twice in singles and Jackie Cai added another set to make a 12-6 victory for the Rams. Continue reading “Cate Picks Up Two More Wins, Early Favorite for Tri-Valley League Title”
In the span of 48 hours Cate Girls’ Tennis has made great strides in the defense of our position as an elite Division 2 tennis team. Facing two long drives to away matches against tough opponents, we are now out the other side with two convincing wins and some powerful momentum. Continue reading “Cate Defeats #2-Ranked Santa Ynez, then Dismantles Defending CIF D5 Champions”
Yesterday afternoon, Cate Girls’ Tennis opened the 2016 season with a 13-5 win over Rio Mesa High School. It was the first win of the season and also the first step to defending our position as CIF Division 2’s top-ranked team!
It has always been a challenge to be in top form in the first match back from outings week, and this year was no different. What allowed us to take the victory is a tradition, a culture that we have established: Cate Tennis loves to compete. Our singles players are all willing and ready to grind out three hard-fought sets and our doubles teams rarely miss an opportunity to be aggressive at net. I could clearly see the difference between our practices this week and the way we performed in the match. Continue reading “Traditions and Titles: The Beginning of Another Cate Girls’ Tennis Season”
Another great year is in the books and I am thrilled by the progress my students have made in 2015. I’m already excitedly looking forward to raising the bar again in 2016, but before we get ahead of ourselves…
A few highlights from the year at Thorpe Tennis:
Thanks to all of you for being part of my tennis family. It is my passion and pleasure to be part of yours. Here’s to another great year of tennis in Santa Barbara!
Trevor Thorpe
Cate School faced Murrieta Valley yesterday in the CIF D2 Quarterfinal Round and, sadly, we came out on the losing end (4-14).
Murrieta Valley had too much firepower in singles, sweeping all nine sets. In the first round, it looked that Julia Gan was going to work her magic one more time, going up 3-0 against Jovana Kuljanin, who is ranked #148 in the country and will be playing D1 tennis under scholarship next season. In the end, Gan fell 5-7 in a very close set. From there, it was all Murrieta Valley in singles.
Doubles play was much more even, with Cate’s talented #1 team Summer Christensen/McKenna Madden taking two-of-three. Eva Herman and Janice Ng continued their strong post-season play, winning two sets as well.
In the end, we just came up against a stronger team. There’s nothing more we could have done. My girls made me very proud today, not just in the way they battled, but also in the way they carried themselves. The Murrieta Valley coach remarked to me that our team was the nicest and most sportsmanlike opponent they had faced all season. I can think of no better way to face this defeat.
For Julia Gan, Jackie Cai, and the doubles team of Christensen and Madden, the season isn’t quite over yet, with CIF individuals still ahead at the Cate School on Monday, November 23rd.
For those of you who are interested in the quality of opponent we faced in this match (besides the fact that their school is 12-times the size of ours), here are the top 5 players from Murrieta Valley, who combined to win all 12 sets they played: Jovana Kuljanin, Alana Andrews, Faith Pearson, Kelsey Lajom, Ashley Nishimoto
Cate has taken a 12-6 victory in Oak Park this afternoon and now advances to the CIF D2 quarterfinal round.
In singles, Julia Gan swept, beating two very high-level tournament players in Sasha Romanova and Sylvie Van Cott. Jackie Cai also came up with a big win over Romanova and played Van Cott to a tie-breaker in the final round. Cai finished 2-1 on the day.
Perhaps the most crucial moment of the match was Gan’s first-round win over Romanova, which was taken in a tie-breaker, 7-5. I think that win put Oak Park off-balance, because they’re used to sweeps from Romanova and Van Cott. It was pretty clear that Romanova was shaken from the first set while playing Cai, who ended up winning her set against the Oak Park #1, too. Continue reading “Cate Downs Oak Park Eagles 12-6, Advances to CIF D2 Quarterfinals”
Cate beat Trabuco Hills 14-4 today, at home, in a match very different from last year’s first round. In 2014, Cate had to beat Fullerton in a wildcard round (at Fullerton) in order to reach a first-round matchup against #2 Murrieta Valley (away again). That worked out to two 12+ hour days of travel and competition that left the team exhausted.
This time around, thanks to a stellar regular season that warranted the #5 seeding in CIF D2, Cate got a home match against Trabuco Hills in the first round. Continue reading “Cate Girls’ Tennis Advances in CIF with 14-4 Win”
After going 13-1 during regular season play and dominating the Tri-Valley League Individuals Tournament, Cate has received the #5-seed in the CIF Team Playoff Tournament.
We begin our playoff tournament with a home match on Wednesday at 2pm, with the winner going on to play on Friday at 2pm. Our opponent will be the winner of a wildcard round between Trabuco Hills and Fullerton High.
Cate knows plenty about this, as last year we played Fullerton High in the same wildcard round, winning an 11-7 match. We went into the next round against the #2-seeded Murrieta Valley the next day, tired from our efforts, but put up a respectable 6-12 score.
This time around, we’ll have the opportunity to play the tired team at Cate. Should we win on Wednesday, the likely opponent for Friday would be Oak Park. We match up very evenly against them, so that could be a lot of fun! Then, based on seeded teams winning, we would earn a rematch against none other than Murrieta Valley.
First things first, and that’s the match on Wednesday. We’ve had a chance to de-stress a bit, as you’ll see below, but tomorrow’s practice will be all business. There’s plenty left in this season if we hit the courts with our best!
While some would consider this a small award, it’s a big honor for me and I’m going to talk about it! This sport, my teams, and my players are my absolute passion. To be acknowledged by my peers in the Tri-Valley League as Coach of the Year is validation of that passion and what it can do.
I know that tennis is just a small part of most of my players’ young lives. That said, I also believe that a tennis court is the perfect place to develop the competitive drive, ethics, and self-awareness it takes to be successful on the many playing fields of life. Continue reading “Coach Thorpe Receives Tri-Valley League “Coach of the Year” Award”
Thorpe Tennis 
