Sage Hill girls’ tennis cruises
The Sage Hill School girls’ tennis team went to Disneyland last Friday after school to celebrate winning the Academy League title.
The Lightning had fun at the Happiest Place on Earth, senior co-captain Connie Yu said, leaving at 1:30 p.m. and coming back around 11. Everyone on the team attended, including head coach A.G. Longoria, who will turn 70 next month.
“Everyone was tired, but it was fun,” Yu said. “It was worth it.”
Sage Hill felt well-bonded as it headed into the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs as the No. 3 seed. The Lightning certainly played well in their first-round match.
They swept in doubles and beat Newhall Hart, 15-3, at The Tennis Club Newport Beach on Wednesday.
Sage Hill (15-2) won its 15th straight match and will hit the road to play Camarillo in the second round on Friday. Camarillo beat Ayala, 10-8, in another first-round match Wednesday.
The doubles teams of Yu and freshman Michelle Hung, senior Marina Anderson and sophomore Isabella Deckey, as well as sophomore Nicole Condas and freshman Miranda deBruyne, all won twice before being subbed out.
Sage Hill won every round by a 5-1 score against Hart (10-9), the third-place team from the Foothill League. The one set that Hart won in every round was captured by sophomore Nicole Alvarez, who swept, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 1 singles.
Alvarez usually plays at the No. 2 spot for Hart. But the Indians were missing their top player, senior Natalia Munoz, who was on a college visit for the second straight day. Munoz, the Foothill League singles champion, also missed Hart’s 13-5 wild-card win over Calvary Chapel on Tuesday.
Despite Alvarez’s standout day, Sage Hill was too deep for the visitors.
“Every team has got a No. 1, and what really decides it is depth,” Longoria said. “I think we have pretty good depth ... our depth is what wins it for us.”
Anderson and Deckey won the clinching 10th set to end the second round, 6-4, over Hart’s No. 1 team of Alex LaForteza and Cassidy Wilkinson. Anderson and Deckey are a relatively new doubles tandem for Sage, but have played well since sweeping rival St. Margaret’s in the teams’ second league meeting.
The four seniors on the team especially want a deep run in CIF. The program has not advanced past the quarterfinals since losing to St. Margaret’s in the 2011 Division 3 title match.
“Since our freshman year the team has really improved,” said Anderson, another co-captain along with the other two seniors on the team, Jaclyn Gerschultz and Celine Wang. “I think we’re at our best right now.”
Gerschultz, sophomore Maya Byrd and sophomore Kayla “Cat” Kiani all won twice in singles for Sage Hill, which indeed seems deeper than in years past. Even when the Lightning brought in substitutes in the third round, all of them won.
Junior Lauren Fishman and freshman Hannah Herin each won in singles. In doubles, the teams of Stephanie Beder and Michele Chen, Melissa Heard and Hannah Leigh, as well as deBruyne and Morgan Mann, all picked up victories.
“I think that’s one of our team strengths,” Yu said. “We don’t have one superstar, but we have really good depth. We might not have one person who can win in singles every single time, but our team in general is very strong.”
