Tag Archives: Thacher

Cate Defeats Laguna, Thacher 14-4 in Tri-Valley League Play

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Cate has moved to 7-1 on the season (6-1 in league play) after dominant second-round performances against Laguna Blanca and Thacher.

How it Happened:

Cate took a 14-4 win in Hope Ranch last Thursday on strength-in-depth. Senior Aminah Hill was unable to repeat her upset victory over Laguna sophomore Mina Yazadhiev, but all three Cate singles players made quick work of the Laguna #2 and #3 positions.

In doubles, Laguna took 8 sets out of 9, including an impressive sweep from #3’s Julianna Forry and Sophie Alijani (6-3, 6-3, 6-3). Emily May and Ella Change also swept on the day.

Earlier today, Cate recorded another 14-4 win, this time against the Toads from Thacher School playing on the Cate Mesa.

The win was spearheaded by a 2-0 day from Aminah Hill and Frances Davis in singles, while sophomore Alyna Takahashi moved into the doubles lineup to go 2-0 on the day.

In the second round, she partnered with junior Ellie Tunnell to defeat the Thacher #1 team, which was actually their top two singles players stacked into doubles. The successful partnership may prove useful tomorrow against visiting San Marcos High, a team that typically fields a strong singles lineup.

Cate has often had its most competitive and exciting match of the season against the large Santa Barbara public school. Despite San Marcos having nearly 10-times the student body, Cate had consistently held its own and sometimes defeated the top Santa Barbara County team, including as recently as 2019.

In that year, Cate went on to finish the season with a sweep of all three major Santa Barbara public schools en-route to a CIF D1 appearance. This year, Cate will be competing in CIF Division 3, with a strong performance in tomorrow’s match suggesting the likelihood of a deep playoff run in a few weeks time.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

I have been delighted to see different players stepping up in each match. For example, Alyna and Ellie taking down that stacked Thacher doubles team. We also brought up four JV players today and they all came through with wins.

Kate Ragatz was particularly impressive today, taking down the Thacher #3 in a tight 7-5 set in what was her very first varsity match. That was the last match on-court and it would be easy for a freshman to let nerves play the deciding factor, but she took her opportunity to play varsity and ran with it!

Cate Routs Rival Thacher 17-1

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In the battle of the west coast’s elite boarding schools, Cate Girls’ Tennis won handily, dropping just a single tie-break set.

How it happened

Cate came out firing in the first round-of-play, with quick wins on all courts.

In singles, senior Aminah Hill and sophomore Alyna Takahashi continued their strong play, notching 6-1, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 victories respectively.

Frances Davis, a sophomore transfer from France, made her season debut with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 showing at the #3 spot.

In doubles, Cate finished the day 9-0, with #2 and #3 doubles pairings Emily May/Ella Chang and Julianna Forry/Ellie Tunnell each going 3-0.

Cate #1’s Ashi Kamra/Colette Chang moved to 5-0 on the season with 6-1, 6-3 set wins before sophomores Sophie Alijani and Caroline Batchelder finished the line with a 6-3 win in the final round.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

Thacher was a bit short-handed today, but we always relish the chance to compete against them on their home turf. Per team tradition, we follow it up with a trip to Boccali’s for some pizza and their famous strawberry shortcake, so we are always motivated to perform well out in Ojai.

While everyone played well today, honestly, I’m most proud of the one set we lost. More specifically, I’m proud of Nikita Nautiyal, who battled back from 1-4 down in the final match of the day to force a tie-breaker.

It would have been easy to let that one slip away once she got down, but she chose to work even harder to get back into the match instead. The support from her teammates through the end of the match was phenomenal as well.

These are the sorts of things that let a coach know the team is on the right track. Although we lost an early-season match to Foothill Tech, we still have ambition to reclaim the Tri-Valley League Title and we’re also hoping to make a deep playoff run this year in CIF Division 3.

What’s next for Cate?

Cate plays next on Tuesday, October 5th against St Bonaventure before the big rematch with last year’s league champions in Foothill Tech. This time, the match will be at Cate (October 7th) and the girls will be ready!

Cate Moves to 7-0 with Second Win Over Rival Thacher in Ojai

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Cate Girls’ Tennis won a 10-8 contest over Thacher in Ojai today in what was a battle between the top two schools in the Tri-Valley League.

After defeating Thacher 13-5 earlier in the season, Cate featured a very different lineup in this match, and what is likely for tomorrow’s match against San Marcos.

Carol Cai and Ashi Kamra went 3-0 at #2 doubles while first-year varsity players Julianna Forry and Maesa Vongkusolkit went 2-1, with their lone loss coming in a tie-break set against the top Thacher pair on the day.

In singles, Grace Fuss recorded three 6-0 victories, while the key victory belonged to freshman Ellie Tunnell. Tunnell, playing at #2 singles for the first time, gutted out an 8-6 tie-break win in the second round that turned out to be critical to the overall victory.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

Ellie was awesome today. She’s the only freshman that made varsity and yet here she is picking up a big win for us in a tight match against our league rivals.

The young players deserve a lot of credit for our success this season, with Julianna and Maesa also stepping up for two wins today.

Grace and Carol are our automatic six sets but they’re also our senior captains. It’s good to know we’ve got young guns stepping up to the plate because we’re going to have big shoes to fill next season.

What’s Next for Cate Girls’ Tennis?

Cate plays again tomorrow at 3pm on Cate Mesa for a chance to finally lay claim to the title “best team in Santa Barbara County.” Their opponent, San Marcos High, has narrowly defeated them each of the last four seasons.

Cate Wins Battle of Undefeated Tri-Valley Teams 13-5

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In a match between two undefeated teams, only one team can come out the other end with their streak intact. In today’s match, Cate girls’ tennis moved to 4-0 on the season with a victory over previously undefeated Thacher (6-1).

Grace Fuss led the charge, winning all three of her sets on the day without dropping a game. Fuss has now won 54 of 55 games en-route to a 9-0 mark on the season.
Aminah Hill played her best tennis to take impressive wins over Thacher’s top two players, before receiving a default win in the final round-of-play.

In doubles, Cate’s top duo dropped just two games across three sets. Carol Cai and Fritze Mayer, like Fuss, move to 9-0 on the season at the #1 position. Mayer is also 3-0 in singles play for a 12-0 mark at this stage of her junior season.

Sophomores Julianna Forry and Maesa Vongkusolkit continue to impress at #3 doubles, taking two of three sets (3-6, 6-2, 6-1) against a tough Thacher doubles lineup.
Cate has now won 37 consecutive Tri-Valley League matches, dating back to October of 2014.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments

This was our most complete match of the season. We were firing on all cylinders on every court throughout the day. Our doubles teams are starting to execute the strategies we’ve been practicing more and more seamlessly.

In singles, I thought Aminah reached another level with her mental toughness. She totally impressed me today and the scary part is, I firmly believe she’s just starting to tap into her potential as a competitive tennis player.

On the other end of things, Grace has been absolutely devastating this season. Her game really picked up last season and she’s carried that aggressive, tenacious baseline striking into this season nicely. She has blossomed into one of just three truly dominant singles players I’ve had the pleasure of coaching at Cate across 11 seasons.

What’s Next for Cate Girls’ Tennis?

Cate plays again on Thursday against St. Bonaventure High School at 3:45pm. The match will take place at Ventura College.

Cate Girls Dominate Thacher in Ojai

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IMG_1417Cate has come out a 13-5 winner in a match contested by two undefeated teams. Thacher is last year’s CIF D4 playoff champion, while Cate is coming off two consecutive D2 quarterfinal appearances. The teams finished second and first (respectively) in last year’s Tri-Valley League and both came into the match 4-0 on the season. Continue reading →

Laguna Blanca Tennis Now 10-3, Ranked #7 in CIF

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With just three matches left, Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis continues to roll towards a CIF Playoff appearance. The team will need to win its final three matches to clinch a playoff spot. Here’s a quick recap of the last two weeks of play:

Laguna Blanca @ Foothill Tech (9-9, 72-68)

In what has been the closest match of the season, the Owls narrowly defeated a strong Foothill Tech team. The teams were evenly matched in the singles positions, with Alex Furukawa taking two wins and Victor Liu and Kai Nakamura pitched in wins over Foothill #3 player Ethan Wang.

Doubles was a lopsided affair, with the Foothill #1’s easily taking their three sets, while Laguna gave just a handful of games up against in the other six sets. In the end, the margin of victory on the doubles side of the match set Laguna up to win by four games.

Laguna Blanca v. Cate School (3-15)

The Cate School remains undefeated on the season, having already beaten Dos Pueblos, San Marcos, and Santa Barbara High Schools on the strength of the Ha brothers (Kevin, Ethan) in singles and a stellar #1 doubles pairing. This is the big year for Cate, as three of these four players will graduate or be ineligible for the 2018 season.

Although the score appears lopsided, the Owls took great satisfaction from the match, coming away with some high-quality experience and the knowledge that four of the lost sets were very evenly contested (6-7, 6-7, 5-7, 5-7). In particular, Laguna’s #1 doubles duo Conor Scheinberg and Jason Barnick impressed with their gutsy performances on the day, winning two sets and losing to Cate’s #1’s in a tie-break set.

Laguna Blanca v. Carpinteria (12-6)

In the first match of the season against Carpinteria, Laguna barely squeaked by with a 10-8 victory after struggling in doubles play. This time, with partnerships more settled, Laguna was able to take and hold a steady lead throughout the match.

Alex Furukawa was dominant at #1 singles, dropping just a couple games. Victor Liu also beat the Carpinteria #2 by a much greater margin than he had in the first match. Kai Nakamura nearly ended the match with a win over Jeremy Saito (Carp’s #1) after battling for nearly an hour to a 7-9 tie-break loss.

Laguna Blanca @ Thacher (4-14)

In what was a somewhat forgettable performance, Laguna failed to pull in a single set in doubles play. Singles play was more evenly matched, with Furukawa taking two wins and Liu and Nakamura each winning once and playing close sets against the Thacher #2. Thacher held a 7-1 record going into the match while playing a division above Laguna and their strength in depth was just too much for the Owls.

Laguna Blanca @ Lompoc (16-2)

The owls dominated every position in the lineup except at #2 doubles. Though the windy conditions played to the advantage of the home-team, the Owls brought too much experience to the match to be challenged. This win also marks the 10th victory of the season, making it five consecutive season the Owls have achieved double-digit wins. For more about past performances, check out the Laguna Blanca Team History page.

Looking Ahead

Laguna Varsity Boys’ Tennis faces three more opponents in the regular season, including two that have already been beaten by the Owls earlier in the year. Assuming a sweep of these matches, Laguna would finish the season 13-3, clinching a wildcard playoff berth with a more than 80% win-percentage. In addition, Laguna Blanca remains a top-10 ranked team in CIF D4, coming in at #7 in the most recent poll.

CIF April 24 Rankings