Girls’ tennis poised to
take on CCS
Five months ago they were fielding grounders, shagging flies and
leading the San Benito High School softball team to back-to-back
Central Coast Section titles.
Girls’ tennis poised to
take on CCS
Five months ago they were fielding grounders, shagging flies and leading the San Benito High School softball team to back-to-back Central Coast Section titles.
This fall, three players from that team and another from the school’s junior varsity softball squad appear poised to do the same for the Baler girls’ tennis team – a team that has never qualified for the section tournament.
“We’re 10-0 overall and 6-0 in league for the first time ever. So we are in the driver’s seat now,” said Ed Cecena, the Baler tennis coach, after watching his team knock off Salinas 4-3 on Tuesday at Ridgemark to take sole possession of first place in the Tri County Athletic League. “All of the softball players are elite athletes. They are mentally tough and it’s very hard to rattle them. They are tough competitors. They are a big part of our success this year.”
The players Cecena is talking about are Elena Fata and Rachel Maheu, who make up the No. 1 doubles team, and the No. 2 doubles team of Marisa Ibarra and Crystal Perriera. Both teams picked up third-set tiebreaker wins on Tuesday to help lead the first-place Balers past the Cowboys.
“We swept the doubles today,” said Cecena on Tuesday. “Their play, including the play of our No. 3 team, was a huge factor in the win.”
Most high schools normally don’t have the luxury of having talented players throughout the roster, meaning that coaches tend to play the top players in the singles matches. But this year Cecena’s team has been equally impressive throughout the lineup.
The softball players were equally talented on the diamond.
During the softball season Ibarra, courtesy of her overall ERA of .72 and 32-2 record, was named the league’s Most Valuable Pitcher. Fata, via her .970 fielding percentage at shortstop, .538 batting average and .825 slugging percentage, was named MVP of the league.
Maheu made the league’s All Second Team squad for her outstanding play at shortstop and Perriera was a strong player on the school’s junior varsity squad.
“I didn’t think we would do this well this year,” Fata said. “Now I hope that we can make it to CCS and do the same thing that we did in softball. That would be pretty cool.”
This season the four softball standouts are proving their worth on the court just as much as they did on the diamond.
“We’re basically using our athleticism to win. The other girls that we go up against just train in tennis but we have all-around athleticism,” said Fata, a senior, who said she decided to sign up for tennis last year because it is much more laid-back and relaxing than softball.
“We are playing doubles but tennis is more of an individual sport. We don’t talk too much to each other out there, although we usually all play right next to each other and help each other during the matches,” Fata said.
“Whoever ends their match first walks over and watches the other matches,” said Ibarra. “We definitely support each other out there. It’s not as intense as softball but we do root for each other.”
All of the players except Fata have been playing on the team since their freshman year. And since the school’s singles players are so solid, the four softballers have been able to remain together and solidify the Baler lineup from top to bottom, which has proved to be a huge advantage since most school’s don’t have that kind of depth and experience in doubles play.
“I think the fact that we are all athletic,” said Ibarra, who said she plays because “it’s fun and something to keep her busy.”
Another factor in the girls’ success on the court is the fact that they are all friends off the court.
“They are all such good friends,” Cecena said. “When friends are that tight they can pretty much say whatever they want to each other – negative or positive and it works. It’s certainly working now.”
