This past week’s matches for the girls’ varsity team were “some of the best matches in Coronado Girls tennis history.” Tuesday’s match, especially, brought a lot of intensity to the court.
Playing against Cathedral Catholic High School, the lines were close all the way. The first two rounds of six matches drew a tie, with six sets apiece. Cathedral’s first two singles players did not lose a single set against Coronado’s singles players. Contrastly, Cathedral’s third singles player did not win a single game. The third round was just as close. Elsa Östermarker and Olivia Strong had another strong performance as a doubles team, winning their matches 7-5, 6-3, and 6-1. “Freshmen Sinaia Haskal and Lily Vu came back from an almost-certain 3-5 loss to win 7-6. That was a real turnaround moment for us,” commented Coach Rob.
The team score being 9-8, Coronado held a tight one-set margin over Cathedral. Line 3 Doubles, Ellie Johnson and Marla Steel, had one match left to play against Cathedral’s Line 1 Doubles. In order to win the match, Ellie and Marla had to win this last set. If they were to drop it, Cathedral would win the tiebreaker, as they were ahead in games.
The match was played “under the lights” and with the stands filled with spectators. “This match had all the makings and atmosphere of a Davis Cup or Fed Cup match. There must have been 60 people in the stands cheering for their teams with the match finishing under the lights around 7:00 p.m,” said Coach Rob. The match started in favor of Coronado as Ellie and Marla won the first two games. Minutes later, the girls gave away four consecutive games. They were quickly able to recuperate and played with a kind of grind rarely seen in high school matches. They gained a 6-5 lead, which then led to a tiebreaker at 6-6. In the tiebreaker, once again they gained a 6-1 lead but then dropped four consecutive points. The following is a video of the fifth match point at 6-5.
After the immense amount of pressure they went through, Ellie and Marla prevailed in this deciding match for Coronado’s victory against Cathedral. On Thursday, Coronado handily beat Scripps Ranch 16 sets to 2.
Overall, the team’s current record is 9 wins to 1 loss. Coronado continues to dominate in the Western League with 5 wins to no losses.
Next Week’s Matches:
- Tuesday, October 3 vs. Patrick Henry High School at Patrick Henry High School @ 3:30 PM
- Thursday, October 5 vs. Academy of Our Lady of Peace at Robbin Addair Tennis Court Complex @ 3:30 PM
