Girls’ Tennis: Sage second best in league
Factually, they are Academy League champion and runner-up. But when one considers the girls’ tennis rivalry between Sage Hill School and St. Margaret’s, it might be more accurate to term them 1-A and 1-B.
The visiting Tartans displayed resiliency worthy of the A-rating Tuesday, rallying from a 5-1 first-round deficit to claim a 10-8 league triumph that clinched the outright league crown.
Sage Hill, hoping to avenge a 10-8 loss to the Tartans in the first round of league play, and eventually claim a co-championship, ultimately could not defend the league title it won in 2013.
“Either Sage or St. Margaret’s has been the league champion for at least the last 10 years,” said Sage Coach A.G. Longoria, whose team will have to wait until at least next season to add to the program’s seven league championships.
On senior day at The Tennis Club Newport Beach, the three Sage seniors in the lineup all helped their doubles teams win two of three sets.
But singles proved problematic for the Lightning (9-6, 5-2 in league), ranked No. 9 in CIF Southern Section Division 2 with only one regular-season match remaining.
The Tartans swept in singles over the final two rounds, including a pair of crucial 7-5 victories by sophomore No. 2 player Elise Talley, to prevail.
“They are a better team than we are,” Longoria said of the No. 6-ranked Tartans (11-4, 7-0), who close out the regular season on Thursday against Crean Lutheran. “We got the lead, we just weren’t experienced enough to hold it. I’m proud we played them as close as we did. I don’t look at it as a choke, just inexperience. We lose four seniors and I feel bad for them. But we have a good nucleus coming back and, hopefully, with another year of experience, we’ll be in the diver’s seat [in the 2015 league race].”
As they did in the first match against St. Margaret’s, in which they won six of the first seven sets, the Lightning settled into the driver’s seat Tuesday.
Senior Abby Ruck, paired with sophomore Crystal Yu, opened with a 6-1 triumph at No. 3 doubles, while senior Tess Alexander and junior partner Marina Anderson earned a 6-2 win at No. 2 doubles.
Senior Amira Tarsadia and junior Connie Yu won, 6-4 at No. 1 doubles to add to first-round singles victories by junior Jaclyn Gerschultz (No. 1) and freshman Isabella Deckey (No. 2).
But Ruck and Yu posted the lone second-round win, a 6-1 verdict, for the hosts, who received third-round wins from their Nos. 1 and 2 doubles pairings.
“The seniors each won two matches, so they contributed their share,” Longoria said. “They got 75% of our points.”
But an even more youthful St. Margaret’s lineup, consisting of only one senior and two juniors, pulled together to put a stranglehold on the league title.
St. Margaret’s sophomore Emma Butler, a Newport Coast resident playing No. 2 singles, swept, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, to help lead the way for the visitors.
Sophomore Marissa Young, another sophomore, teamed with Danielle Chade to earn a 6-4 third-round win to help the visitors celebrate.
Sophomores Sally Guo and Reilly Parkhill posted the match’s lone tiebreaker win, a 7-3 second-round tiebreaker triumph that finished off a 7-6 victory for the Tartans.
“We clinched second place and we’ll be on different halves of the [playoff] bracket than St. Margaret’s,” Longoria said.
The only way a third meeting this season between the Lightning and Tartans could occur, therefore, would be a CIF Division 2 final that would again render a champion and a runner-up.