Tag: Laguna Blanca

Thorpe Tennis 2025 Year-in-Review

My 17th year living and working as a tennis coach in Santa Barbara is now done-and-dusted. It always shocks me how quickly the time passes and yet how much I manage to squeeze in…this year was no different!

The sporting year began on a personal note, as I got to partner with my doubles partner from college (20 years ago?!) to compete in the Wilson World Tennis Classic L2 35’s Doubles Tournament. We reached the finals, taking wins over a player who reached #1702 on the ATP tour, a former D1 starter (Boise State), and a former D2 starter (UT-Dallas).

Following that tournament, I reached an all-time high USTA national ranking of #20 in my age-group, but highlight was getting to compete with my old buddy Aron in front of our wives and my childhood tennis coach Kurt, in the Palm Springs Area where I grew up!

There was little time for reflection though, as it was immediately back to Santa Barbara to finish up my Cate Winter Training Group. The 2025 edition featured 10 players and continues to grow as a resource for our boarders looking to increase their tennis opportunities during the off-season.

Next up, in was the start of my 16th season coaching at Laguna Blanca. This year, I stepped aside as head coach, ceding the role to my friend Mark Polowczak, who has been helping me with all of my programs over the last few years. As I gradually step back at Laguna, it’s really pleasing for me to see that the program is in good hands.

In 2025, the Owls managed to snag the final playoff spot in the Tri-Valley League, and went on to reach the CIF D5 Quarterfinals. This is the strongest playoff showing since we reached the CIF D4 Semifinals in 2022, and with a young team, it’s also a performance upon which to build in the coming years.

Throughout the summer months, a number of players from the Thorpe Tennis Community competed in USTA junior tournaments, with a particular stand-out being Alex Danely. In 2025, his UTR rating moved from below 4 to 5.3 as he won the Solvang Summer Classic and the Top Seed Tennis Academy Round-Robin, as well as finishing runner-up in the San Luis Obispo Summer Classic.

More recently, Alex partnered with Graham Clinger (another member of the Cate Winter Training Group) to finish runner-up in the Santa Barbara Winter Junior Championships. In that same tournament, another Cate player that I coach, Jade Wang, claimed the girls’ 16’s singles title!

The end of summer brought another personal tennis highlight for me. Most of you know that I compete with and co-captain the “Santa Barbarians” in the Santa Barbara Mens’ Interclub League. Since 2012, we’ve been on the hunt for our first doubles championship, and this year we finally got it!

Partnering with my co-captain Wes Barber’s son Curran Hall, we went 3-0 in the playoffs at line 2, including the title-clinching win against SBTC in the finals. In that match, we competed against a former D1 player and a former D3 nationally-ranked player, both of whom I’d lost matches against in the last year.

The match came down to a 10-pointer in the 3rd set, with the SBTC team going up 8-3 and 9-7 before we fought back to take the final FIVE points. In a prideful moment, I have to say that I hit back-to-back corner aces for the first time in my life and played like a banshee at the net during the tail-end of this tie-breaker. Sometimes, if you believe that you cannot be stopped (and you’ve put in the work), you can summon a moment of tennis invincibility. The body follows the mind, so take care what you think to yourself.

It was an absolute highlight of my tennis life to be able to come through for this Barbarian band of brothers that I love so much…even better to do it while partnered with the Barbarian NextGen, Curran, who carried himself so well throughout this season and was such a valuable member of the team. Also, I got to be taller than his dad (the first guy who invited me into the playing community when I came to Santa Barbara), if only for a moment!

Next up was season 17 coaching girls’ tennis at Cate. We had another exceptionally strong season, going 14-1 overall during the regular season, winning the Tri-Valley League, clinching a playoff berth for the 14th consecutive season (D2), and peaking at #46 of 373 schools in CIF Southern Section. Additionally, junior/sophomore combo Lisa Hasebe and Ivy Huang reached the final 64 doubles teams in individuals and the entire starting lineup went undefeated in TVL league play!

Off the courts, I got the chance to travel quite a bit (shocker, right?). Some highlights were:

Beach-hopping on Kauai and Oahu.

A number of visits to check up on the CasasThorpe Vacation Rentals in Merida and play some padel with local friends like Xavier.

3 visits to Austin, including attending both “SXSW” and “Austin City Limits” festivals.

Backpacking the 40-mile Trans-Catalina Trail in 3 days.

Finally getting to the end of the famous “Angels Landing” hike in Zion National Park.

Completing the “Rim-to-Rim” in 24 hours in Grand Canyon National Park

Completing a “new-to-us” backpacking route with Maria’s daughter Dali in Yosemite National Park

Making our triumphant return to European summer (our long-delayed-by-immigration-paperwork honeymoon), this time spending a week exploring the beaches of Crete and the bazaars of Istanbul.

And ending the year in our beloved Mexico, with visits to a number of areas in Jalisco, including Costalegre and Guadalajara with family for the holidays.

If you’ve made it this far, congrats on being a totally committed member of the Thorpe Tennis Community…and sorry I didn’t manage to shorten this post as much as I shortened my hair throughout the year. Regardless, it remains abundantly clear that this is more than just a tennis business…this is an extended family growing around and learning from this sport we all love. See you in 2026!

-TT

Cate Completes TVL Season Sweep

Cate defeated visiting Laguna Blanca 17-1 to earn a third-consecutive season sweep of Tri-Valley League play. The Rams finished regular season play 13-1 and secured a 14th-consecutive CIF Playoffs berth.

How it Happened:

Cate received a trio of singles wins from sophomore Ivy Huang (6-0, 6-3, 6-0) and junior Reyna Takahashi (6-3, 6-4, 6-0). Lisa Hasebe got the call-up from doubles and dutifully performed against the Laguna #2 player (6-2) before giving way to JV call-up Riya Mitera, who went 1-1 on the day.

It was all Rams in a complete sweep of the doubles action. Senior captains Elsie Chamberlain and Claire Bianchi held down the top line. This marks the last regular season match of their time at Cate, with Chamberlain finishing 19-0 and Bianchi finishing 15-0 in league play.

Elsewhere in doubles, Claire Tang paired with Edie Abbott for a 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 performance. The juniors finished league play 17-0 and 14-2, respectively. Chelsea Newlove finished league play 12-0, partnering with Elly Edwards (13-0) for two wins and completing the match with Evita Ferrone (6-5) for a 6-0 win.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

What a way to cap the regular season off, in front of friendly faces on family weekend at Cate!

I have to say, the Laguna line 1 and line 2 singles players were excellent today, which made the sweeps from Ivy and Reyna all the more impressive.

We’ve been dealing with a lot of illness on campus recently, but this team just keeps rolling. We missed Jade Wang out there today, but Lisa stepped up for us in singles and we also got a great effort out of Riya in that lineup spot.

Edie also settled right in with Claire to make quick work of her doubles matches and Evita did a great job in the third round to get Elly some much needed rest.

As a coach, I continue to feel spoiled with options for lineups due to our depth and the willingness of our players to take on different roles, as needed. Our seniors Claire and Elsie, and Reyna (who we’re celebrating as a senior this year) have all played a mix of singles and doubles throughout their careers at Cate. All three are undefeated in league play this season, with Reyna likely to be the #2 seed in our singles TVL Individuals tournament after twice previously competing in the doubles draw.

Now the team is united under the common objective of extending our season 5 more matches for our departing teammates. If you’re going to go to playoffs, why not go all the way?

What’s Next for Cate Girls’ Tennis?

Cate will compete in the TVL Individuals tournament next Tuesday on Cate Mesa, beginning at 2pm, with final rounds to be played on Thursday. School Girls’ Tennis has not lost a TVL match since October of 2022, running up a total of 25 consecutive wins in league play since that time.

Across the last three seasons, Cate is now 47-3 overall, with the CIF D3 title in 2023, a CIF D2 Semifinal run in 2024, and a likely second shot at the D2 title in the coming weeks. Team playoffs begin Wednesday, November 5th.

First though, Cate will compete in the TVL Individuals tournament next Tuesday on Cate Mesa, beginning at 2pm, with final rounds to be played on Thursday. The winner and runner-up of both singles and doubles will qualify for CIF Regionals, also to be held at Cate, on November 24th.

Cate Downs Owls 17-1 in TVL Match

Cate gave up just one set against Laguna Blanca in the first of two meetings between last year’s top-2 teams of the Tri-Valley League. The win takes Cate to 4-0 in league play and 8-1 overall on the season.

How it Happened:

Sophomore standouts Ivy Huang and Jade Wang continued their unbeaten streaks in league play this season, dropping just 9 games across 6 sets of singles play.

Cate received wins from Reyna Takahashi and Evita Ferrone at the #3 singles position, with the lone win for Laguna on the day coming from their #1 singles player, Hali Wight.

In doubles, Chelsea Newlove paired with Lisa Hasebe in round 1 and then Edie Abbott in the remaining two rounds, continuing her unbeaten streak in league doubles play. The pairing of Elly Edwards and Elsie Chamberlain also went 3-0 on the day (6-2, 6-3, 6-0).

Junior Claire Tang paired with Claire Bianchi and Gwendi Rogers for a line #3 sweep, including a thrilling 8-6 tie-break win to end the match (Tang/Rogers).

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

I thought the Laguna singles players came out firing in the early stages of rounds 1 and 2, but Ivy and Jade did an excellent job of maintaining their composure. The early going was close, but they identified weaknesses and made adjustments to create some separation in the final stages of those sets.

I’m also so proud of Evita, who was the last player to make the cut for varsity this season. She had a tough go against the Laguna #1, losing 6-0, but rallied mightily to be the Laguna #2 in the next round. It would have been easy to miss that second opportunity, but she turned the day around and ended up with a big win.

As I was telling the girls in the post-game huddle, it’s a total luxury for me as a coach that I can send any player on the team out to hit with any other player and know that they can hang; I think getting comfortable playing against more advanced players this season in practice has helped Evita see that she belongs on the court with that calibre of player.

What’s Next for Cate Girls’ Tennis?

Cate will travel to Ojai to face eternal boarding school rival, Thacher School, on Thursday at 3:30pm. The team will also play away on Saturday (2:30pm) against Arroyo Grande High School of the CIF Central Section.

Cate defeats Laguna Blanca 16-2

Cate girls’ tennis notches another lopsided victory on the way to a second-consecutive undefeated Tri-Valley League season. Despite strong play from the Owls at #1 singles and doubles, the Rams left Hope Ranch with a 16-2 victory, moving to 11-1 on the season (7-0 in league play).

How it Happened

Senior Laguna player Caroline Kenny took Cate freshman #1 Ivy Huang to 5-7 in what was the only close match of the opening round. The two players traded impressive winners to 5-all before Huang pulled ahead to close out the set convincingly.

In the third round, fellow freshman Jade Wang had a similar battle with Kenny, grinding to 5-all before pulling away in the final to games for a 7-5 win. Cate sophomore Reyna Takahashi lost a similarly tight 5-7 set to Kenny in the second round, but showed encouraging glimpses of her top form as the playoffs loom.

Cate won the remaining 6 sets of singles, sweeping lines #2-3, including a win for Claire Bianchi, who subbed in for Huang in the final round.

In doubles, sophomore Lisa Hasebe took Takahashi’s usual spot at #1 doubles, pairing with senior Colette Chang for a trio of 6-1 set-wins. Elsie Chamberlain and Chelsea Newlove continued their strong partnership during league play, also sweeping on the day. Claire Tang and Elly Edwards added two 6-0 victories at the #2 spot, before losing a close one to Laguna’s #1 doubles team.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments

I was really impressed by the way my singles players competed today. Caroline has really upped her game in the last year and so it was great to see Ivy and Jade battle to wins over her, despite being three years younger and much less experienced in high school play. I was also stoked to see Reyna competing so fiercely. Although she ended up losing, this was her best tennis of the season and evidence of her abilities, which we’ll need to rely on in post-season play.

What’s next for Cate Girls’ Tennis?

The Rams return to play next week against visiting Arroyo Grande, one of the stronger teams in CIF Central Section. The teams played earlier this season in the Santa Barbara Invitational, with Cate taking a 5-1 victory.

Rams take Owls 16-2

The Rams continue the march towards an undefeated league season with another impressive performance against last year’s Tri-Valley League runner-up team, Laguna Blanca.

The match featured wins from all 11 Cate players in attendance on the day, with Edie Abbott taking a third-round win at #3 singles and Gwendi Rogers pairing with Colette Chang to go 2-0 on the day at the top doubles position.

In singles, Cate got convincing sweeps from freshmen Ivy Huang and Jade Wang, who dropped just 2 games each across their 6 sets-of-play. Only slightly more impressive was the perfect doubles performance frosh combo Elly Edwards and Claire Tang had at #2 doubles, with the pair recording 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 set-wins.

The Rams will rest up for the remainder of the week before returning to play against Villanova High School in Ojai at 3:30pm on Tuesday, October 1st.

Owls Run the TVL Gauntlet, Come Out with Chance at .500

Now in the final week of the season, Laguna Blanca boys’ tennis has improved to 5-6 overall, despite facing strong opponents in Cate and Thacher in the first few days back from a two-week spring break.

Laguna Blanca v. Thacher: 3-15 Loss

Laguna had just one practice leading into a tough league match against visiting Thacher, and paid for it dearly in the 3-15 loss. The Owls were unable to scratch against a strong Thacher doubles lineup, with just Noah Mitev/Enzo Vinoly able to force a close tie-break loss against the Thacher #3 team. In singles, both Mason Berg and Oliver Tande had their chances against the Thacher #1 and #2 opponents but were unable to convert, with the two plus Wyatt Burt only able to secure singles wins against the Thacher #3 player.

Laguna Blanca @ Dunn: 13-5 Win

The Owls shook off the Thacher defeat and regrouped for a quality win over the Dunn School in the Santa Ynez Valley. The win was spearheaded by doubles sweeps from Lucas Ayala/Keanu Christiansen and Noah Mitev/Enzo Vinoly.

In singles play, Mason Berg came close to victory over UTR 6.8-rated Richard Bertea, but would have to settle for a 2-1 record on the day. Oliver Tande also recorded 2 wins, with Wyatt Burt adding a win in the final round-of-play.

Laguna Blanca v. Cate: 5-13 Loss

In what was billed to be a brutally difficult day for the home-team, visiting Cate was unable to dominate the match in the way they had the previous season, en-route to their CIF D3 title.

Laguna fought gamely through out the match, starting with a huge win for freshman Oliver Tande against UTR 7.3-rated senior, Ethan Bloom. Both he and Mason Berg added singles wins over Cate #3, James He, but Nate Newlove from Cate managed to stem the bleeding with a 3-0 day at #2 singles.

In doubles play, Lucas Ayala and Keanu Christiansen were competitive in all three matches (3-6, 3-6, 7-6), including a tie-break win over the #3 team. Sophomores Enzo Vinoly and Noah Mitev struggled to find their footing in the early rounds, but rallied to take a 7-5 victory in the third round against the #3 team as well.

Laguna Blanca v. Bishop Diego: 15-3 Win

This was the most complete performance of the season for Laguna Blanca tennis, with the team having come out of the trials of the last week-and-a-half battle-hardened.

Both Oliver Tande and Mason Berg swept their singles matches, taking quality victories over freshman standout, Lucas Forry. In doubles, it was a clean sweep for the Owls, a first on the season. Sophomores Connor Murphy and Changzheng Yu battled through a tough tie-break win in the first round against the Bishop #3 team, before building nicely to 6-1 and 7-5 victories against the #2 and #1 teams (respectively).

What’s next for the Owls?

Laguna will close out the season with a TVL match against St. Bonaventure High School of Ventura, to be played at Furukawa Tennis Gardens in Hope Ranch, 3:30pm. With a win, the Owls would finish the season 6-6 overall, meeting the pre-season goal laid out for the mostly freshmen and sophomore team by coaching staff.

Cate Adds Pair of Wins, Remains Undefeated

Cate Girls’ Tennis moves to 4-0 overall (3-0 in Tri-Valley League play) with back-to-back wins over league rivals Laguna Blanca and Foothill Tech.

Cate @ Laguna Blanca: 10-8 Win

Cate got nearly flawless performances from its formidable top two singles lines, with sweeps from Alyna Takahashi (6-0, 6-1, 6-2) and Lisa Hasebe (6-1, 6-0, 6-1). Claire Bianchi helped with the singles result by recording a 6-4 set-win over the Laguna #2 player Danica Damiani and battling mightily with 6-7 and 5-7 sets in her other two rounds.

In doubles, freshman Reyna Takahashi made her season debut, partnering with senior Sophie Alijani to win 2-of-3 sets at the #1 position. Caroline Batchelder and Elsie Chamberlain added the lone additional set with a win over Laguna’s #2 team in the first round.

Cate v. Foothill Tech: 13-5 Win

In singles play, Cate continued to get strong performances from its top singles players. Alyna Takahashi and Lisa Hasebe swept while dropping just 3 games total between them in 6 sets-of-play. Claire Bianchi added 2 sets, giving Cate 8-of-9 in singles.

Senior Captain Alyna Takahashi goes airborne for the forehand winner over Foothill Tech #1, Kira Branson

In doubles, Foothill returned their two-time defending league champion doubles team and Cate was unable to break their unbeaten streak. Cate fared better at the other two doubles positions, with Reyna Takahashi/Sophie Alijani and Caroline Batchelder/Elsie Chamberlain both taking two wins. New freshman combo Gwendi Rogers and Sophie Blank added a win and battled to a 4-6 set against the Foothill Tech #2 team.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

I was pleased to see how strong Laguna’s team is this year, particularly in singles. It’s always good to have solid opponents in league play, and they gave us a chance for our singles players to show what they can do! Alyna, Lisa, and Claire all got a lot of quality match-play in the week, with more still to come on Friday.

We’ve also started to find some good doubles combinations, although we’ve still not played a match with all players available yet. Caroline and Elsie were a bit of a revelation, playing quite well together despite never having played together before.

What’s next for Cate Girls’ Tennis?

Cate returns to action on Friday at home, facing a formidable D1 opponent in Camarillo High School.

Laguna Blanca Enters Final Phase of Season 6-2 with a Chance of Playoffs Berth

The Owls have just two matches remaining in the Spring 2023 season, with Foothill Tech visiting Hope Ranch today and a rescheduled away match this coming Tuesday against Cate School.

In league play, the Owls are 3-2, with the top four teams in the Tri-Valley League receiving an auto-bid into the CIF Playoffs. However, the two remaining teams are some of the stronger squads in the TVL, meaning an upset win in one of those final two matches of the season will be necessary to pick up that auto-bid. Laguna is guaranteed a winning record on the season, and consequently, an at-large bid for a playoff wildcard spot should they fail to produce an upset today or next Tuesday.

Recent Match Recaps

Laguna Blanca v. Carpinteria: 9-9 (71-65) Win

Carpinteria High ceded the #3 doubles position, giving Laguna a 3-0 start to the match, which ended up being critical in the tie-break win. Carpinteria’s #1 singles player, Max Stone, was dominant in dropping just 1 game across three sets and Laguna was also unable to scratch against the #1 doubles line.

Davis Ohanian went 2-1 on the day in singles, while senior captains Aden Meisel and Kent Dunn each chipped in a win over the Carpinteria #2 singles player. In doubles, the pairings of Mason Berg/Robbie Dunn and Cody Busch-Weiss/Connor Murphy each picked up wins over the Carp High #2’s to bring the total to 9 set-wins. The Owls then nervously counted games within each set to reveal a win by a margin of just 6 games.

Laguna Blanca @ Thacher: 3-15 Loss

The Owls faced a very strong Thacher squad in a match that had very few close sets. One bright spot was a 12-10 tie-beak win from junior Mason Berg in his first singles match of the season, playing at the #3 position. Sophomore Davis Ohanian added a 6-2 win against the Thacher #3 in the final round of play, with the sole doubles set-win coming from seniors Aden Meisel and Cody Busch-Weiss against the Thacher #2 line.

Laguna Blanca v. Dunn: 14-4 Win

Twin brothers Kent and Robbie Dunn went 3-0 in singles play against the school that coincidentally bears their name. Davis Ohanian slotted into the doubles lineup for the first time on the season, pairing with Mason Berg for a blemishly sweep at #1 doubles. Freshmen Connor Murphy and Noah Mitev partnered to go 3-0 on the day as well, while Cody Busch-Weiss and Lucas Ayala finished 2-1 on the day.

Laguna Blanca v. Bishop Diego: 14-4 Win

The Owls nearly completed a sweep of the Bishop Diego singles lineup, with Davis Ohanian and Mason Berg dropping just 6 games between them in 6 sets-of-play. Kent Dunn lost a tight 5-7 set against the Bishop #1, but rallied to take a tie-break win in the final set to finish 2-1 on the day.

In doubles, Laguna was unable to crack the top Bishop Diego team, with two sets pushed to 5-7 scores. However, it was all W’s in the remaining 6 sets, with pairings Cody Busch-Weiss/Robbie Dunn, Connor Murphy/Noah Mitev, and Lucas Ayala/Changzheng Yu all finishing 2-1 on the day. Ayala and Yu were particularly notable, playing together for the first time and battling gamely for the Owls in three close sets (5-7, 7-5, 6-4).

Laguna Blanca @ St. Bonaventure: 13-5 Win

Laguna Blanca secured a winning record on the season with a 13-5 victory over short-handed St. Bonaventure, who conceded the #3 position in both singles and doubles.

The Owls got a sweep from new pairing Aden Meisel and Noah Mitev in doubles and cobbled together wins from Davis Ohanian, Mason Berg, and Kent Dunn in singles against the #2 and a win from Cody Busch-Weiss and Robbie Dunn against the #2 doubles team to create the comfortable winning margin.

What’s Next for the Owls?

In addition to the remaining TVL matches, Laguna will send 6 players to participate in the league doubles tournament, which begins this coming Monday at 1pm, with the Cate School hosting.

Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis Opens Season 2-1

The Owls faced a rain-soaked first half of the 2023 tennis season, but managed to go into spring break with wins over Orcutt Academy and Santa Ynez High School.

Laguna Blanca v. Orcutt Academy: 6-3 Win

In the season opener, Laguna played the CIF-Central Section format of 6 singles matches followed by 3 doubles matches. Sophomore Davis Ohanian led the team at #1 singles with a 6-3, 6-2 win and junior Mason Berg also won in straight sets at the #4 position.

Laguna’s senior captains, Aden Meisel and Kent Dunn, took third-set tie-break wins at the #2 and #3 positions to add to the Owls’ singles tally. Orcutt fired back with wins at the bottom two positions in the lineup, putting the match at 4-2 going into doubles play.

Laguna got a win from Lucas Ayala and new addition to the team Noah Mitev at the #3 doubles position and the last match of the day was won by Ohanian and Meisel, who partnered at the top spot in the doubles lineup.

Laguna Blanca v. Santa Ynez: 6-3 Win

Laguna again utilized the CIFCS format in the match against Santa Ynez.

The Owls split the singles match-play, wins at the #3-#5 positions (Kent Dunn, Mason Berg, Robbie Dunn, respectively). Davis Ohanian nearly pulled up an upset win at the #1 position, playing the experienced Santa Ynez ace to an 11-13 score in the third-set tie-breaker.

With the match tied going into doubles play, Laguna held nothing back in fielding some formidable doubles combinations. Ohanian and Meisel paired for an 8-4 win at the top spot, with Mason Berg and Kent Dunn also partnering for an 8-2 victory. Junior Lucas Ayala shared the #3 position with freshman Noah Mitev to make a clean sweep of the doubles with an 8-3 win.

Laguna Blanca v. Villanova: 5-13 Loss

The match against Villanova High School from Ojai marked the beginning of Tri-Valley League season play. Unfortunately, it ended in a loss against the deeper Villanova squad, but there were some particularly bright moments for the Owls.

Davis Ohanian played lights-out tennis for a 6-2 win over Tristan Montecino, a senior and one of the stronger players in the league. He followed that up with another quick win, moving him to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in league play.

The pairing of Robbie Dunn and Mason Berg lost a heart-breaker 6-7 at the #1 doubles position after leading early, but rallied to go 2-1 on the day with 6-2, 6-0 set-wins. Aden Meisel added a win over Roman Moga, the Villanova #2 player.

What’s Next for the Owls?

The Owls return to action after a two-week break, facing visiting Carpinteria High School at 3:30pm today. The match will be followed up on Thursday at Laguna, when the Owls will take on Dunn School in the second Tri-Valley League match of the season.

Cate Splits Week of League Matches

Cate Girls’ Tennis has gone 1-1 in Tri-Valley League play this week, falling 7-11 to Foothill Tech on Tuesday before rebounding with a 16-2 victory over Laguna Blanca.

Cate @ Foothill Tech: 7-11 Loss

In another very close match, Cate came up short against Foothill Tech, going 0-6 against the #1 positions in singles and doubles. Conversely, Cate went 6-0 against the #3 singles and doubles positions, suggesting that Foothill took the win with a strong upper end of the lineup, while Cate may in fact have more depth.

A bright spot for Cate, junior Sophie Alijani and freshman Claire Bianchi went 2-1 on the day and freshman Elsie Chamberlain took a win as a substitute singles player. Freshman Pyper Davis also had a win, pairing with senior Athena Ke. Three freshman accounting for 4-of-7 set-wins suggests Cate has room to grow in the future.

Cate v. Laguna Blanca: 16-2 Win

The rebound was swift and severe for Cate tennis, as they put in an absolutely dominant performance against visiting Laguna Blanca. Through the first two rounds-of-play, Cate went a perfect 12-0 before making a number of substitutions.

The win was spear-headed by seniors at the #1 singles and doubles positions, with Ellie Tunnell going 2-0 on the day and Ella Chang/Athena Ke paired for a 3-0 day in doubles. The match will be the last regular season home game for the trio, who celebrated senior day with a special recognition from the team during introductions.

Freshman Claire Bianchi continued to impress, going 3-0 in her first singles play of the season, while usual #1 player Alyna Takahashi added 6-1, 6-0 set-scores against the top-2 players from Laguna. Freshman Elsie Chamberlain has quietly moved to 7-3 on the season in singles play as a substitute after taking a tie-break set-win against Danica Damiana of Laguna Blanca.

In doubles, junior/sophomore combo Sophie Alijani and Colette Chang joined Chang/Ke with a sweep of their three rounds, while sisters Frances and Pyper Davis chipped in 2 wins on the day from the #3 doubles position.

What’s Next for Cate Girls’ Tennis?

Cate, now 5-3 overall (5-2 in league play) will close out regular season play next Thursday at Thacher School in Ojai. The following week will see Cate team-members participating in Tri-Valley League Individuals, followed by a run at the CIF Division 2 playoffs in early November.