With a 10-8 win at La Reina, Cate remained undefeated on the season (9-0, 6-0 in league) and clinched the Tri-Valley League title (we have two more league matches, but there is no scenario where another team could overtake us in the overall standings). This is Cate’s first title since moving up to Tri-Valley last season. Continue reading “Cate Girls’ Tennis Takes Tri-Valley Title, Remains Undefeated”
Category: Cate Girls’ Tennis
Cate Girls’ Tennis Remains Undefeated in Two Lopsided Matches
This week, we played Malibu High and Nordhoff High, both Tri-Valley League opponents. The net result is that we are now 5-0 in league play and can finish no worse than second in League this season. This means that Cate girls’ tennis has made the CIF playoffs for the fifth consecutive year and we are two-for-two since moving up to Division 2 and the Tri-Valley League.
On Tuesday, Malibu served up some very windy conditions, but our girls managed to sweep in doubles play and secure five wins in singles to garner a 14-4 victory. Here’s the scoreboard: Continue reading “Cate Girls’ Tennis Remains Undefeated in Two Lopsided Matches”
Cate Defeats CIF #2-seed Santa Ynez, Remains Undefeated
I’m happy to share that we’ve just beaten Santa Ynez 10-8 at Cate.
I’ve been very pleased with the play of the entire team so far this season and today was no different. Last night’s 13-5 win over Carpinteria High turned out to be just the prelude to what has been an outstanding week for Cate tennis.
Playing back-to-back matches, we managed to come out swinging again, taking four of the first six sets and holding that lead with 3-3 rounds the rest of the way against Santa Ynez. It almost didn’t turn out that way!
Julia Gan was down 4-1 and then 5-2 against a very experienced and highly-ranked Mary Kavaloski (as high as #533 in the country earlier this season). When I looked over at Julia at that point in the match, I saw that she had her “determined face” on and as she started to gain ground, I realized she was about to do something big. Like so many times in the last three years, once she flashes that face, the match almost always goes her way. She’s just a special player and we’re very fortunate to have her as part of our team. She ended up taking that set in a 7-4 tie-breaker and didn’t lose another game the rest of the match. Julia is now 17-1 overall this season.
In doubles, Summer Christensen and McKenna Madden pushed their unbeaten record to 12-0 (Summer is now 18-0 on the season). McKenna has played singles for us the majority of her four seasons at Cate, but she’s such an impressive doubles player that we can’t help but put her there. In Summer, she has a partner who has matured, this season, into a very strong doubles player herself. Together, they’re a real pleasure to watch.
Pairings Eva Herman/Janice Ng (9-3 together this season) and Emma Liberman/Cecelia Sanborn (11-4 together this season) held their ground in doubles at the #2 and #3 positions, winning two matches each. In the past, Cate tennis has often been reliant on getting most of our wins in singles, so it’s great to see us so solid all the way through the doubles lineup.
Prior to this season, we were 0-4 against Carp High, 0-3 against Rio Mesa, and 0-5 against Santa Ynez. We now stand at 6-0 (3-0 in league), having beaten all of those teams, plus last year’s Tri-Valley league champions (La Reina). In Santa Ynez and Rio Mesa, we’ve now beaten the #2 and #4 teams in CIF D3. Unfortunately, we’re a very small school that somehow ended up in division 2, but we think we can hold our own at that level, too.
We have been building some serious momentum over the course of this season, proving that we can compete with some of the stronger teams out there. I’m so proud of my girls, their play and their character. They have put in the hard work over the last few years and its starting to pay off. I can’t think of a more deserving bunch.
Cate Girls’ Tennis Still Unbeaten after First Two League Matches
On Tuesday, Cate faced Nordhoff in Ojai and came away with a resounding 16-2 victory. Despite playing a few short of a full roster and with some new doubles combinations, the team rallied to win the first 16 sets of play. Similarly, with two starters still out, Cate came up with the goods in today’s match against league rival, La Reina High, coming out with a 10-8 win.
Cate, now 4-0 (2-0 in league), faced a La Reina team (now 4-2) that had won handily in both of last season’s match-ups, but today was different. Continue reading “Cate Girls’ Tennis Still Unbeaten after First Two League Matches”
Cate Girls’ Defeat #3-Ranked Rio Mesa in 11-7 Win
Today, Cate played Rio Mesa High School up on the Cate Mesa and came away with an 11-7 win. Rio Mesa is currently ranked #3 in Div. 3 of CIF and we haven’t beaten them in many years, so it was a good day for us. They came in with a 4-1 record and two nationally ranked singles players, including freshman Jupneet Singh who is ranked #251 in the country in her class on tennisrecruiting.net.
In the first round, Julia Gan of Cate knocked off Rio #1 Dominique Derse who is currently ranked #80 in California and #556 in the nation. These two were no strangers, as they had featured in the finals of the Oxnard Winter Junior Tournament earlier this year (recap here), with Gan taking the win in a close three-setter.
Continue reading “Cate Girls’ Defeat #3-Ranked Rio Mesa in 11-7 Win”
Pre-Season Recap + First Match of the Girls’ Season
Pre-Season & Introductions
For the second year running, pre-season was a welcome indicator that a new, invigorated team mentality is taking hold at Cate. Now in my 13th season as a high school coach, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team come back so ready to pick up where they left off nine months earlier. We even got a visit from alum Victoria Herman, who jumped right into play without missing a beat.
In addition to a good level of readiness, the girls’ team will benefit from the addition of a new assistant coach, Sara Scott. Now a mother of two, living in the Santa Barbara area, Coach Sara brings a wealth of experience as a top-ranked junior player and successful D1 athlete (she played four years for the UCLA Bruins). Continue reading “Pre-Season Recap + First Match of the Girls’ Season”
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.
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.
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.
Thorpe Tennis 