Costa Mesa girls’ tennis outlasts rival Estancia to win first Battle for the Bell match
At 70 years old, Cathy Binnquist did not anticipate coaching high school tennis this fall.
Binnquist played the sport at Costa Mesa High before graduating in 1967. These days, she still hangs out on a tennis court six days a week, but it’s playing pickleball, not tennis.
Binnquist heard there was a need for a girls’ tennis coach at her alma mater when Ryan and Meg Broccolo resigned over the summer after three years in charge. She stepped in days before the season began.
Even coming off the Mustangs’ first league championship since 2002 and first CIF playoff appearance since 2011, numbers were low. Mustangs senior singles player Hallie Tran said that two doubles starters quit the team. Costa Mesa had to play a few matches in the preseason without a No. 2 or No. 3 doubles team, meaning the Mustangs sacrificed six sets right off the bat.
“At the beginning of the season, it seemed a little bit hopeless,” Costa Mesa senior No. 1 singles player Leslie Delgado said. “But we’re doing very good.”
The Mustangs are off to a good start in the Orange Coast League.
Costa Mesa beat visiting rival Estancia 11-7 on Thursday in the first Battle for the Bell match, improving to 2-0 in league play. The Mustangs rode the strength of their four returning starters.
Tran swept in singles, 6-0, 6-0, 6-3. Delgado won twice in singles and nearly swept, but Estancia junior Kate Harrison came from two match points down in the tiebreaker to record a 7-6 (9-7) victory in the first round.
Costa Mesa senior Erin Rodriguez and sophomore Sophia Catania swept 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles. They came back from a 4-3 deficit in the first round to beat Estancia’s No. 1 team of juniors Isabel Kehoe and Elsa Cuenca.
“Our returning girls are really the core of the team,” Binnquist said. “They really are great human beings. Our girls are so strong that we’d focus two [lines] and we’d still win, because who we did have was so strong. Now, having our No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, that really helps. [Co-athletic director] Sharon [Uhl] did some recruiting, and the girls agreed to come on out and try to learn.”
Two of the new girls form the No. 2 doubles team, and they won an important set in the third round. Freshman Gagan Kaur and senior Ivana Garcia, who before this year had only played water polo and swam at Costa Mesa, beat Estancia’s No. 3 team of Raquel Rosete and Athena Nova 6-4.
That gave Costa Mesa, which is 4-6 overall, its ninth set win, and the Mustangs clinched the match after Delgado and Tran each won quickly in the final round.
The new players feel welcome, Tran said, which is key. Freshman Kayla Friedland also won twice at No. 3 singles for Costa Mesa.
“We didn’t really know where we were going to be coming into the season,” Tran said. “We just encourage each other, and kept pushing each other to become better.”
Estancia (2-7, 0-1 in league) got two singles wins from Harrison, while the doubles teams of Kehoe and Cuenca, as well as Natalie Spas and Tara Schroeder, also won twice.
“[Harrison] was super-tired from her first [set],” Estancia coach Kevin Springer said. “I mean, Kate can’t do it all. We really need the doubles to get stronger.”
Binnquist had a busy day Thursday. After coaching the Mustangs to victory, she was en route to Davidson Field, to watch the Corona del Mar High football team’s key nonleague game against San Clemente. Binnquist’s grandson, Riley, is a senior running back for the Sea Kings.
Cathy Binnquist, who played tennis at Vanguard University and used to run the Costa Mesa Tennis Center, said she’s had to cut way back on her pickleball playing. But she’s fine with that as long as the Mustangs can win another league title.
“I think we’re going to do OK,” she said. “I think we’re going to go all the way.”
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