Tag Archives: TVL League

Cate Splits Week of League Matches

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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.

Cate’s Fuss, Cai Power to TVL Title Match

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The Cate School played host, today, to the annual Tri-Valley League Individuals Tournament. It was mixed fortunes for the five schools in the league, with four schools sharing the finals positions, as Cate’s top-2 eschewed singles league glory for a shot at a deep run in CIF Individuals.

In singles, the top two seeds each dominated their opponents with straight-set wins. Top-seed Helena Insua of St. Bonaventure won her quarterfinal round 6-0, 6-0 and followed that up with a 6-0, 6-1 win over #3-seed Jacqueline Kong (Thacher) 6-0, 6-1. 

Insua will face Natalie Cheng (Thacher) in the singles final, after Cheng took both of her matches on the day without dropping a single game. The third place singles match will take place between Yuki Kobayashi (Cate) and Jacqueline Kong.

In doubles, top-seeded Grace Fuss and Carol Cai (Cate) cruised to 6-0, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-1 victories. The team is comprised of the top-two singles players in the TVL this season, with the intention of the pair going deep into CIF Individuals.

On the other side of the draw, #2-seeded Fritze Mayer and Ashi Kamra, also of Cate, were narrowly defeated by last year’s third place team of Alyssa McClain and Jolie Seemayer (Foothill Tech). The Foothill Tech team took the match 7-6, 4-6, 10-3 to book their place in the finals against Fuss and Cai.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

On it’s face, today was maybe not the dominant display you’d expect for our team. It’s true that we haven’t lost a league match since 2014, but our league has some very solid players and we made some strategic decisions going into the tournament.

Grace and Carol were just a point or two away from winning their third CIF Regionals match as a doubles team last year, and we felt they have the chance to really do some damage as a doubles team.

That meant Fritze wouldn’t get to play with her normal partner Carol in individuals, but I think Ashi has really stepped up her game this year and they very nearly pulled off the win. That match between our girls and the Foothill Tech girls was a joy to watch. I can’t even be disappointed about the loss because I saw Fritze and Ashi reach their highest level in that match. On our team, that’s the big win and I’m very proud of their performance against a worthy opponent.

In singles, Yuki has made big strides this season and she took a nice win in the quarterfinals. Though she lost in the semifinal, she came off the court smiling and happy with her performance, and she’s still got a chance to take third place in league. 

Mia Foster also got the opportunity to lay it on the line in singles. As a senior who’s spent most of her career playing doubles, I thought she played great, although it didn’t go her way.

In short, every participant from our team got something good out of the tournament today, and some very deserving players from other teams got through and will surely represent our league well in CIF Individuals.

What’s Next for Cate Girls’ Tennis?

All TVL Finals and 3rd-Place matches will take place at the Cate School at 2:30pm on Thursday, October 31st. Following the completion of league individuals, Cate will play in the first round of the CIF D1 Team Playoffs the following Wednesday.