UDPATE: Bishop’s defeated Coronado in CIF play by a score of 14-4.
Last week, the Islander Girls’ Tennis Team competed at the Western League Individual Tournament held at Balboa Tennis Center. This is a tournament where all six Western League schools (Cathedral, Scripps Ranch, OLP, Patrick Henry and La Jolla) send five singles and five doubles entries for a 32-person/team draw. The goal for any Western League player is to finish in the top five as the top five finishers in both singles and doubles gain an automatic entry into the season-ending CIF Individual Championships starting Monday, 11 Nov. Every League in SD County has an Individual tournament to determine entries into the CIF tournament and last week was one week after the Islanders won the Western League championship with an undefeated season for the second year in a row and four out of the past five years.
Three Varsity players had extremely tough opening or 2nd round draws; Lauren Pettit/Jolee Barr drew the #4 doubles team out of La Jolla and lost in the opening round 8-2. Sinaia Haska, Coronado’s #3 singles player won her opening match 8-4 only to face the #2 seed from La Jolla and lost 8-0. Tiana French, Coronado’s #2 singles player won her first two rounds before succumbing to the same #2 singles seed by a score of 8-1. Elsa Ostermarker, Islander Captain and #1 singles player, certainly lived up to her #5 seed by winning first the back draw singles semifinal 7-6, 6-3 and the final 6-2, 6-0. With that back draw final result Elsa received the 5th automatic singles entry into CIF.
The Islander doubles teams, after the first day of competition, became the talk of the tournament with the Islanders holding the #1, #2, #3 and #5 seeds. By the end of day, the Islander doubles teams held all four semi-final spots. The #5 team of Samantha Russell/Kate Perley, down 5-6 in their match against the #4 seed from La Jolla, dug deep and held the attack grabbing the 8-game pro-set by a score of 8-6 avenging a defeat by this same team 4-6 only the week before. The semi-finals pitted #1 Alejandra Gonzalez/Marla Steel against teammates against Russell/Perley. Gonzalez/Steel got the win after a tough first set ending in 6-4. They won the second set 6-0 on their way to the final.
The other semi-final went to a third set match tiebreaker (first team to 10 points) where #3 Ellie Johnson/Ana De La Lama edged #2 Olivia Strong/Lily Vu 7-6, 1-6, 10-5 to secure a spot in the finals.
Wednesday, it was another all-Coronado day where Gonzalez/Steel edged a very competitive Johnson/De La Lama by a score of 6-3, 6-3. This was the first time in League history where one school had all four semi-final spots and hence all four teams received automatic entries into the CIF tournament.
From left to right: Assistant Coach Dennis Navarro, Ana De La Lama, Ellie Johnson, Elsa Ostermarker, Alejandra Gonzalez, Marla Steel and Coach Rob Moore. Alejandra Gonzalez and Marla Steel defeated Ana De La Lama and Ellie Johnson 6-3, 6-3 in the league championship match. Elsa Ostermarker won the back draw in singles.
At the conclusion of the tournament the all-Western League teams were announced:
Alejandra Gonzalez, Marla Steel, Ana De La Lama, Ellie Johnson, Olivia Strong, Lily Vu, Samantha Russell and Kate Perley were named 1st team all-Western League and both Elsa Ostermarker and Tiana French were selected as 2nd team all-Western League.
This Tuesday, October 29th, the Islanders, as the #4 team in the Open Division (only the top 8 teams are selected in this division) host #5 Bishop’s at Coronado at 2:30 p.m. (admission is free). UDPATE: Bishop’s defeated Coronado in CIF play by a score of 14-4.
Head Coach Rob Moore mentioned, “Bishop’s is a very strong team though we beat them during the regular season, but it was the example of how every game counts. The set score was tied at the end of regulation 9-9 as were games 86-86 (the second tiebreaker to determine the match winner) so we went to which team did the best in doubles and we prevailed 6-3 thereby winning that match by the slimmest of margins. We know they are solid, but if I were Bishop’s I don’t think I’d like to travel down to the Rock to face the Islanders. We’ll be ready.”
The team playoffs continue as long as schools win in a single-elimination format. So, come and support the Lady Islanders on Tuesday and provide some loud support.
Joseph and his family moved from Chula Vista to Coronado during elementary school. He immediately acclimatized by picking up surfing on his first day on the "island". When not covering CHS Sports, he enjoys surfing, skateboarding and making skate videos with his friends. Joseph is a Digital Art Student in CoSA and loves to travel. Have a story for The Coronado Times to cover? Send news tips or story ideas to: [email protected]
