San Benito wins five third-set tiebreakers Thursday, defeats
Notre Dame 7-0 in girls tennis
HOLLISTER
The San Benito girls tennis team delivered a spirited sweep of Notre Dame Thursday at the Ridgemark Golf and Country Club, and opened the Tri-County Athletic League with a 7-0 victory against one of their top rivals.
Usually considered one of the top teams in the league as well, Notre Dame was, in fact, rather close to making the match interesting, despite the goose-egg outcome.
Of the seven matches played, five of them went to a third-set tiebreaker, but San Benito won each and every one of them.
“The matches were all super close,” said coach Ed Cecena, who called this the biggest win of the season so far for the Lady ‘Balers. “Five matches decided in the tiebreaker. You can’t get any closer than that.”
Cecena added that his team has actually been focusing specifically on tiebreakers in practice recently, and needless to say, it certainly paid off on Thursday.
“There were some contentious moments,” Cecena said. “But both teams wanted to win and both teams were very competitive.”
San Benito is now 1-0 in the TCAL and 7-1 overall.
In singles, Amanda Marshall defeated Daisie Winstone 4-6, 6-3 (10-0), while No. 2 Abbie Woods won in straight sets, beating Brook Carrachiolli 6-3, 6-2. At No. 3, Hayley Barker came from behind to defeat Taylor Schwartz 1-6, 7-6 (10-8), and No. 4 Bri Ahumada-Wolfsmith followed suit with a 5-7, 6-3 (10-8) victory over Chantelle Edwards.
In doubles, Crystal Perreira and Marisa Ibarra continued the tie-breaking trend, beating April Harvey and Lexie Flores 4-6, 7-5 (10-8), while at No. 2, Vanessa Casalegno and Chelsea Yoakum defeated Brenda Ponce and Alexandria Leavenworth 7-5, 5-7 (10-1). At No. 3 doubles, Rachel Smith and Lauren Ademek teamed up to upend Melissa Speciale and Francesca Flores 6-1, 6-4.
San Benito will return to TCAL action on Tuesday when they will visit Alisal at 4 p.m.
