Tag: Arroyo Grande

Cate Adds Trio of Wins, Now 12-1 on the Season

Cate took a 17-1 victory in Ojai today against Villanova Prep, marking the 3rd win in less than a week and 12th win of the season.

Cate was led by singles sweeps from Jade Wang and Reyna Takahashi, who dropped just 5 games total across their 6 sets-of-play. Ivy Huang added 2 sets before substituting out for the final round.

In doubles, Lisa Hasebe and Chelsea Newlove continued their unbeaten streak in league play with a 6-0, 6-0, 6-1 line at #1 singles. Pairings Claire Bianchi/Claire Tang and Elsie Chamberlain/Edie Abbott also swept in doubles, with the entire doubles unit dropping just 2 games across 9 sets.

On Tuesday, Cate defeated Providence High School 15-3 in another TVL league match, going 8-1 in singles and 7-2 in doubles play. The match featured a number of newer faces to the team, with Riya Mitera/Josie Goldhirsh getting the call-up from JV and going 2-1 on the day as starters. Similarly, Lotte Nicholas and Adele Tan joined the team from JV, substituting in for 2 doubles set-wins.

Going back further to last weekend, Cate Girls’ Tennis ventured 2hrs north to play Arroyo Grande High School. The match was played using the Central Section format, with the Rams taking a 7-2 victory.

Cate was led by junior Lisa Hasebe, who partnered with Ivy Huang at #1 doubles for an 8-4 win, before leading the charge in singles with a 6-0, 6-4 victory.

Other notable performances came from sophomore Chelsea Newlove and senior Elsie Chamberlain, who earned wins at line #3 and #4 singles (respectively), both playing singles for the first time in 2025 dual match-play.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

We’ve been dealing with some sickness and injury this last week, but the girls have rallied around each other and done an excellent job of filling gaps in the lineup. It’s great to be able to call on doubles players to play some singles and also for some eager JV players to have the opportunity to play at the next level.

This is a team that seems ready to handle whatever gets thrown at it, which increases my confidence in our prospects for this year’s CIF Playoffs. It’s pretty rare for any team to make it through that part of the season without something going awry, so it’s great to know we have a host of role-players we can count on to step up when called upon.

What’s Next for Cate Girls’ Tennis?

The Rams return to action next week on Thursday at 3:30pm, when they will try to defend home-court in front of an exuberant crowd on family week. The match, against Laguna Blanca, is an opportunity for Cate to complete its 3rd consecutive unbeaten Tri-Valley League season and league title.

Rams Ground Eagles 17-1

Cate Girls’ Tennis won an impressive 17-1 victory over visiting Arroyo Grande today. The match pitted the defending CIFSS D3 Champions against the current CIFCS D1 #3-seeded team.

How it Happened

Cate came into the match with an SB Invitational Tournament win over Arroyo Grande in-hand, but the result of this match was anything but certain at the onset.

In the previous match, Arroyo Grande had fielded the B team, due to injury and travel, with the key exception being their star player, senior UTR 6 Elliane Cha. In that match, Cha had triumphed over Cate freshman #1 player Ivy Huang 6-4, 6-2. It looked like the result would be similar, with Cha leading 3-0, 4-1, and 5-2, but Huang dug deep to turn the match for a 7-5 win.

At the same time, Cate surged from closely contested early games to sweep the doubles play, while freshman Jade Wang turned in a 6-2 performance at the #3-spot. Sophomore Lisa Hasebe held a 3-0 lead at #2 singles, but faced a strong come-back from the Arroyo Grande player. However, Hasebe showed poise and determination in the tie-breaker, fist-pumping her way to a 7-4 victory and completing the clean sweep of the first round.

It was nearly all Cate in the remaining rounds as well, with Cha collecting the lone Arroyo Grande win in the second round, before substituting out due to fatigue.

Cate received doubles sweeps from all three starting teams: Reyna Takahashi/Colette Chang, Elly Edwards/Claire Tang, and Elsie Chamberlain/Chelsea Newlove. Takahashi and Chang enter the Tri-Valley League Individuals next week as the hot favorite, after finishing runner-up in 2023.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

Arroyo is a very strong team. They’re on-paper as the third-best team in the California Central Section and have a win over the top team (San Luis Obispo), so to take them apart like we did today is really something special.

Ivy’s performance today as a freshman against a senior #1 who beat her earlier this season, coming back from 2-5 down: that’s the stuff on which dynasties are built.

As a coach, this team is a total luxury. I know that whichever lineup we go with, we’re going to field 3 strong singles players without compromising anything in doubles.

We won CIF Division 3 last season on the depth of our team, defeating opponents with multiple singles players that we couldn’t compete with on paper. Now, we have similar depth, but I also feel that we have the ability to compete head-on with teams who have those stand-out UTR 6 and 7 players.

What’s Next for Cate Girls’ Tennis?

The Rams return to action on Thursday against visiting league opponent Villanova Prep. The match will be followed up by “Family Friday,” a team tradition in which Cate players invite parents and siblings to join in practice and competition.

Cate Goes 2-1 in SB Invitational Tournament

Cate Girls’ Tennis moves to 6-1 overall this season, with a 5th place showing in the 3rd Annual Santa Barbara Invitational Tournament.

Rancho Bernardo d. Cate 4-2

Cate opened the tournament on Friday against the #2-seed, Rancho Bernardo from North County San Diego. The match was competitive throughout, with the final score (2-4) belying the fact that at one point Cate School was just 7 points short of a 3-3 tie that would have resulted in a win on games.

Bright spots for Cate included wins from Lisa Hasebe at #3 singles (6-0, 6-2) and from Claire Tang/Elsie Chamberlain at #3 doubles (6-3, 7-5). Freshman Jade Wang put in a very strong performance against the Rancho Bernardo #2, UTR 6.3-rated Vennela Thangella (3-6, 5-7).

Colette Chang and Reyna Takahashi held a 6-4, 4-1 lead at #1 doubles before Rancho Bernardo came roaring back to win the deciding match in a 10-point tie-breaker.

Cate d. San Dieguito 5-1

Cate rebounded this morning with a convincing win over San Dieguito Academy of Encinitas, also a North County San Diego program. Cate took control early and never let up, winning 5 of the first 6 sets in convincing fashion.

Highlights included a clean sweep of the singles lines, with Huang, Wang, and Hasebe dropping just 4 games total across 6 sets-of-play. In doubles, Cate got a high-quality win from Chang and Takahashi, who took out the San Dieguito #1’s, a 4.5 UTR-rated team. Sophomore Claire Tang and freshman Chelsea Newlove paired for a 6-4, 6-3 win at the #3 spot.

Cate d. Arroyo Grande 5-1

The 5th place match, played at Pershing Park in Santa Barbara, featured Arroyo Grande of the CIF Central Section, fresh off their victory over local team San Marcos High School. Cate put on another outstanding display across the board, taking the first of what will be two matches between these teams on the season.

The Rams registered a doubles sweep this time, with Takahashi/Chang and Tang/Newlove reprising their partnerships at the #1 and #3 positions, while Lisa Hasebe moved to partner with freshman Elly Edwards at the #2 spot.

Cate also counted wins from Jade Wang at #2 (6-0, 6-3) and Claire Bianchi at #3 (6-2, 6-0), while freshman Ivy Huang battled competitively with UTR 5.9-rated senior Elliane Cha at the top slot in the lineup (4-6, 2-6).

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

It was an awesome weekend for us, and one that came as a bit of a surprise when we got the last-minute call-up to enter the tournament two weeks out. We’ve got a team that loves high-level competition and there was lots to be had this weekend. For some of our players, being pushed by stronger opponents in this tournament was absolutely crucial in starting to build up to our mid-season level.

Since we hadn’t counted on being involved in this tournament when we did our scheduling, we actually ended up with 5 matches in 5 days, but the girls seemed to come through it quite well. We dropped our 21-match win-streak yesterday, but it’s nice to come out of the weekend with a 2-match streak already started!

I want to highlight the phenomenal play of Jade Wang, who really shined this weekend, both in victory and defeat. Lisa Hasebe was also performing like clock-work this weekend, going 2-0 in singles and then 1-0 in doubles, dropping just 8 games in 6 sets-of-play.

What’s Next for Cate Girls’ Tennis?

Cate will play again on Tuesday, September 24th at home against league rival Laguna Blanca at 3pm.