Hollister – The ripple effect of a player missing from a tennis team is that the remaining players may be forced to play in a higher slot than normal. That harsh reality presented itself for the San Benito girls’ tennis team Tuesday when the undermanned Lady ‘Balers suffered a 5-2 loss to Oak Grove at Ridgemark Golf & Country Club.
San Benito (1-1) is in the process of adjusting to life without former No. 1 singles player Danielle Burke, but paperwork has also prevented two of its other top-10 players from taking the court. While junior Burke is pursuing other tennis options, Kaitlin O’Keefe is awaiting the green light from the Central Coast Section office after transferring back from Salinas and Japanese foreign exchange student Ayumi Teraoka has also been held up from playing on the administrative end.
San Benito rolled to a 6-1 victory over Seaside in its season opener Friday, but found the going much tougher against the talented Eagles. Oak Grove swept the four singles matches and the top doubles match Tuesday, defeating the ‘Balers for the second straight year.
“We look at this as a learning experience,” said San Benito head coach Ed Cecena, who didn’t see any of his players hanging their heads. “They stayed positive.”
The No. 2 doubles team of Rachel Maheu and Elena Fata improved to 2-0 on the year with its 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 victory over the Eagles. And Yumi Chang and Crystal Perreira had the only relatively easy go of the day, prevailing 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3 doubles.
But everyone else on the San Benito squad suffered a straight-sets defeat, with only No. 4 singles player Abby Woods even winning more than two games in a set.
Cecena hoped his girls filed away the things that worked and didn’t work in battling the talented Eagles. “I think the girls competed well,” the ‘Balers’ coach said. “I think they learned a lot from their opponents, especially the ones who lost.”
San Benito has the chance to impart those lessons quickly as the team returns to action with more preseason matches the next two days. The ‘Balers host Live Oak today at Ridgemark and then visit Santa Cruz Thursday.
