San Benito doubles pairing Amanda Marshall and Abbie Woods lost
6-2, 6-0 in their opening round match at the CCS Championships on
Monday
LOS GATOS
San Benito’s Amanda Marshall may need to listen to her mother more often.
“Yeah, I know,” Marshall said on Monday at the Girls Central Coast Section Individual Tennis Championships in Los Gatos. “Mother knows best.”
Coming into Monday’s first-round match against top-seeded Melissa Kobayakawa and Vynnie Kong of Monta Vista, Marshall and doubles partner Abbie Woods were trying not to get psyched out by their No. 1 opponent, trying not to go in with preconceived notions.
Mother’s orders.
“I guess I just figured since they were the No. 1 seed, that we wouldn’t even get a point,” Marshall said. “I tried not to go in with preconceived notions.”
Nerves were definitely a factor for both teams, San Benito coach Ed Cecena said, but Monta Vista’s experience may have proven to be the difference as Kobayakawa and Kong bested Marshall and Woods 6-2, 6-0 at the Courtside Tennis Club in Los Gatos.
“Being the more experienced team as defending champions, they were able to overcome the nervousness and get into the flow,” Cecena said. “That’s what the top players do. They’re able to get relaxed and able to bring out the best in their game.
“Unfortunately, Abbie and Amanda didn’t play as well as they wanted to. A big match, and I’m sure they couldn’t just get over the nerves. They know they could have played better, it just didn’t work out that way today.”
Monta Vista won the doubles championship last season, as well as the team championship. This year as a team, they finished in the semifinal round before falling to the eventual champion, Mitty.
“Monta Vista, once they got relaxed, they played their regular game and their talent came out,” Cecena said. “We didn’t play as well as we could have played. It looks like nerves affected us more than it did them.”
Kobayakawa and Kong jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first set before San Benito took the third game behind strong serving from Woods. The Monta Vista pair went to 5-1 in the first set, however, and never looked back.
“We expected them to be a little better and we expected our play to be a little better,” Woods said. “I think that was our biggest problem, we weren’t consistent. They were more consistent.”
“I felt like we had really, really good points and really, really bad points, and no where in between,” Marshall said. “We went to deuce more often in the second (set). We were getting more points, we just weren’t getting those games.”
Marshall and Woods, who played No. 1 and No. 2 singles all season for San Benito, teamed up at the Tri-County Athletic League Tournament two weeks ago to try their hand as a doubles pairing.
After they defeated Gilroy’s Cristina Carrillo and Viviana Mendez 6-2, 6-0, beat Notre Dame’s April Harvey and Brook Carrachiolli 6-2, 6-4, then downed Salinas’ Lily O’Mary and Shelby Weber 6-4, 6-2 in the championship final, Marshall and Woods qualified for this week’s CCS Championships as a doubles team.
They were the first individuals from San Benito to advance to CCS since Danielle Burke did it in 2004.
“I just wanted to play my best,” Woods said. “We won TCALs and we were really happy, and we just wanted to see how far we’d go in CCS.”
“These players are so good,” Marshall added. “They’re amazing, and it’s an honor just to be here.”
