San Benito defeats Trojans to move to 15-0 on the season
In the six years that Ed Cecena has been at the helm of the San
Benito High School girls’ tennis program, he has never had the
pleasure of coaching such a talented team as the one that has
stepped out on the court this season.
San Benito defeats Trojans to move to 15-0 on the season
In the six years that Ed Cecena has been at the helm of the San Benito High School girls’ tennis program, he has never had the pleasure of coaching such a talented team as the one that has stepped out on the court this season.
As of The Pinnacle’s press time, the surging Balers had posted a perfect record of 15-0 overall and an 11-0 mark in league – putting them one game ahead of Salinas in their quest for a league title.
Yet as impressive as their record sounds, the Balers still had to face Salinas on the road Oct. 25 after press time – a match that would determine which team would win the Tri County Athletic League title and advance to the Central Coast Section tournament.
“It all comes down to that one match,” said Cecena, who watched his team edge the Cowboys 4-3 in their first meeting at Ridgemark Oct. 2. “We have a one-game lead on them. If we lose and it ends up in a tie, CCS has a tiebreaker system that will determine which team will go to CCS. I don’t know who will go.”
On Tuesday at Ridgemark it appeared that the Balers were the team to beat after they cruised to a clinic-like 6-1 win over the Trojans of Alisal High.
“It’s our depth and doubles play this year that is really doing it,” Cecena said. “That is something that I didn’t think we had at the start of the year but boy was I wrong. We’ve always had solid singles play here, but the depth of the doubles play has really evolved. It’s just wonderful how well we are playing.”
In singles play Tuesday Amanda Marshall got things started for the Balers with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Alisal’s Anabele Quintero to give the Balers an early 1-0 lead in the match.
About the same time that match wrapped up San Benito’s Yumi Chang had disposed of the Trojan’s No. 2 singles player Nicole Saldana by a 6-1, 6-0 margin. That match was followed by a 6-1, 6-1 win by San Benito High’s Kaitlyn O’Keefe over Alisal’s Cindy Leong in the No. 3 singles match.
The Balers only hiccup of the day came in the No. 4 singles match where San Benito’s Abbey Woods battled it out through three grueling sets before succumbing to Brandy Saldana 6-1, 2-6, 12-10 in the tiebreaker.
With a solid 3-1 lead through the singles matches the Balers never looked back and wound up sweeping all of the doubles matches to seal up the win.
The No. 1 doubles team of Elena Fata and Rachel Maheu cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Alisal’s Victoria King and Ama Vergara.
From there, Marisa Ibarra and Crystal Perreira picked up a 6-2, 6-1 win in the No. 2 doubles match over Alisal’s Amanda Salazar and Cynthia Rodriguez before San Benito’s Bri Ahumada-Wolfsmith and Rachel Smith made it a clean doubles sweep for the Balers courtesy of their 7-5, 6-3 win over Alisal’s Claudia Alvarez and Nancy Tiznado.
“This team is by far the best team I’ve ever coached,” Cecena said. “It’s like a coach’s dream to come out of nowhere and come together and play great tennis is great. Everyone is receptive to my coaching and strategies and they’re willing to try new things. We’ve just really gelled this year as a team.”
The Balers will next compete in the TCAL tournament on Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 29 and 30). Based on current regular season records, only Salinas or San Benito can win the league title.
