Thorpe Tennis

CIF Playoff Picture: Stellar Season Validated with #5 Seed, Solid Draw

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!

Coach Thorpe Receives Tri-Valley League “Coach of the Year” Award

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”

All Six Cate Players Make All-League 1st Team in Tri-Valley Individuals Tournament

Yesterday, Cate finished the regular season with a 17-1 victory over Laguna Blanca, despite substituting our top three players out after round one. The team finished with an 13-1 record (8-0 in league play), but today, we took this incredible season to another level.

Each school in the Tri-Valley League fielded two singles players and two doubles teams, with the top three singles players and top three doubles teams to receive All-League 1st-Team Honors. Today, all six Cate players finished in the top three of their respective categories. Continue reading “All Six Cate Players Make All-League 1st Team in Tri-Valley Individuals Tournament”

Tri-Valley League Individual Tournament Results: Cate Dominates!

The Tri-Valley League Individuals Tournament was held at Cate today. All five teams (Cate, La Reina, Carpinteria, Malibu, Nordhoff) were represented by two singles players and two doubles teams each.

In what was expected to be a competition dominated by Cate and La Reina, Cate proved their strength with both singles players and doubles teams advancing to the semifinals and securing all-league honors. Continue reading “Tri-Valley League Individual Tournament Results: Cate Dominates!”

Cate Girls Win Another Close Match on Parents’ Weekend

It was another nail-biter on the Cate Mesa over parents’ weekend! With the score tied 8-8 and two doubles sets left to play, we needed from our #2 or #3 doubles teams, who had both gone 0-2 so far on the day. After three-and-a-half hours of play, both teams ended up getting their first win of the day, making the final score 10-8. Continue reading “Cate Girls Win Another Close Match on Parents’ Weekend”

Cate Completes Clean Sweep of Tri-Valley League with 13-5 Win Over Malibu

With just two non-league contests left (Simi Valley, Laguna Blanca), Cate has now completed the Tri-Valley League sweep with the 13-5 win over Malibu High School. Cate girls’ tennis moves to 11-1 (8-0) on the season with the win today.

Freshman Sarah Polowczak had an excellent day, going 3-0 with Summer Christensen. For Christensen, the sweep meant that she has gone undefeated in league play this year with a 22-0 record.

Eva Herman and Janice Ng swept their three sets of play today, strengthening their case for a high seed in next week’s Tri-Valley League Individuals.

In singles, Julia Gan completed an undefeated league season today as well, going 2-0 and confirming herself as the #1 singles seed for next weeks individual tournament. Additionally, Jackie Cai took three convincing set wins for the Rams in singles play.

Cate plays next on Saturday against Simi Valley at 2pm for parents’ weekend!

Cate Gets Back to Winning Ways after Tough Loss Against San Marcos

Last Friday, we faced the D1 Channel League champs in San Marcos High School and were narrowly defeated. They came in with a 5-star recruit in Yuka Perera (#124 in the nation), another nationally-ranked player in Kelly Coulson at #2 singles, as well as an undefeated #1 doubles team that had 35 wins to their credit this season.

When the dust settled, San Marcos came out the 11-7 victor, but we showed that we can compete with the best teams in Southern California, regardless of division. McKenna Madden and Summer Christensen pushed that #1 San Marcos team to the brink in a very tight 5-7 set and Julia Gan managed to recover from her first loss in over a month to blow by her secound round opponent and then beat an in-form Coulson in the third round.

It was a shame to lose the close match, but it’s also a reality-check at an important moment in the season. This coach had the unfortunate experience of playing for an undefeated Palm Springs High team in the 2005 season that was ranked #3 in CIF D2. We went on to get outplayed in the first round of playoffs, perhaps going in with the assumption of superiority. This match against San Marcos was great practice for the playoffs and it might serve us well to know we’re not invincible.

Today, Cate bounced back from the San Marcos match with a 16-2 win cross-town foe Carpinteria High School. We now move to 10-1 (7-0 in league play) with three matches remaining in the regular season. Continue reading “Cate Gets Back to Winning Ways after Tough Loss Against San Marcos”

Cate Girls’ Tennis Takes Tri-Valley Title, Remains Undefeated

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”

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.