Dos Pueblos freshman Lauren Stratman may be at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to seniority at school, but the tennis standout stands alone atop the Channel League after defeating teammate Erica Cano 6-3, 6-0 in the final of Tuesday’s league singles championship at the Tennis Club of Santa Barbara.
Perhaps an even more impressive feat would be Stratman’s overall record for the season: 43-0.
In the semifinals, Stratman passed by San Marcos’ Julian Mannix 6-3, 6-1. In both victories, the first-year prep matched the seniors’ power stroke for stroke.
“I had a little bit of nerves,” admitted Stratman about playing her senior captain in the title match.
“We’re definitely friends off the court but on it we get really competetive.”
On a historical election day, Cano made some history of her own by beating Decker-Sadowski for the first time in her career in a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 semifinal.
“It was definitely a good personal win,” said Cano, who is 50-4 on the season with two losses to Decker-Sadowski. “I was obviously thrilled about it.”
After splitting the first two sets, Cano jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third but Decker-Sadowski battled back to even it up at 3-3. Cano stopped the run to go up 4-3 by holding serve, and came up with the ensuing break of serve to take a vice-like grip on the match.
Decker-Sadowski, who said she played pain-free for the first time in awhile, will lead the No. 1-ranked team in Division II into the CIF playoffs beginning next week.
In the final, each player was having difficulty holding serve in the first set. Each had already broken the other before Cano was serving with the match knotted up at two-games apiece. Cano built a 40-15 lead in the fifth game, but Stratman capitalized on two double faults and two unforced errors to take the game and the 3-2 advantage. Although Cano was able to break right back, Stratman returned the favor thanks to an amazing drop shot and was able to hold serve the following game to take a 5-3 lead.
Stratman, who enjoyed a much longer rest between the semifinals and final than Cano, closed out the set in the following game and took control over a drained Cano in the second.
Decker-Sadowski stuck around for the match and congratulated the new champion afterwards, knowing that there is a good chance the pair will be playing for the title next year when the Don is a senior and Stratman a sophomore.
“That’s really awesome,” Decker-Sadowski said of the new champion. “I’m really excited to see her progress. She’s only a freshman and she’s doing so well already.
“I’m looking forward to playing her next year.”
The Channel League doubles championships begins on Wednesday at San Marcos with top-16 teams vying for four spots in Thursday’s semifinals. Play starts at noon.
