The Santa Barbara girls tennis team is getting ready for its playoff stretch and Dons head coach Steve Geremia saw some positive signs in Tuesday’s 12-6 victory over visiting Dos Pueblos.
Santa Barbara, ranked No. 2 in Div. II, jumped out to a 12-0 lead against the Chargers but needed two come-from-behind victories to do so.
“No matter how well you play, there are going to be those days when you play someone just as good as you are and you’re going to get down to them. You have to learn to come back from that,” said Geremia, liking what he saw from singles player Taryn Mjelde and his doubles team of Talia Hudson and Stephanie Thornton.
Santa Barbara's Taryn Mjelde strikes a forehand against Dos Pueblos' Chloe Warinner on Tuesday
“Both of those sets we were down and we came back to win. That’s a sign they’re becoming better competitors.”
Mjelde was trailing DP’s Chloe Warinner 2-4 in the second round before clawing her way back to force a tiebreaker that Mjelde won 7-2.
The Chargers were without defending Channel League singles champion Lauren Stratman, out with sickness for the second straight match. DP head coach Suzy Dahl said she expects her star sophomore back by then.
Santa Barbara didn’t play regulars Haley Hranicky-Galitzer or Ariana Hudson, but still had plenty of firepower to shell out. Channel League singles champion of 2007, Rachel Decker-Sadowski, won her two sets 6-0, 6-0 and defending league doubles champions Hanna Grokenberger and Kinzie McKeown took two more at 6-2, 6-2.
The Dons emptied their bench for the third round, which the Chargers swept.
“We enjoyed that challenge but it was nice to go out with a win in the third round,” Dahl said of her young team facing the deep and talented Dons.
“Since we know that Santa Barbara is such a tough team, as many games as we got and that set we got, meant a lot to us,” said Dos Pueblos’ Nicole Eskenazi. “We came in here with an optimistic attitude and I think that really showed. ”
Santa Barbara's Emily Baum gets a laugh while hitting a volley
It was the Channel League finale for both teams and both teams have a Friday non-league match left on their schedules before the league championships next week.
The Chargers take on Santa Ynez while the Dons host the No. 1 team in Div. I, Dana Hills.
“No matter what you did today, it isn’t gonna help you tomorrow unless you’re building on it and I think we’re building,” said Geremia.
SANTA BARBARA 12, DOS PUEBLOS 6
DP Singles: Nicoletta Bradley 1-2, Sophia Rasmussen 1-2, Chloe Warinner 0-2, Amber Rexford 1-0.
SB Singles: Rachel Decker-Sadowski 2-0, Aurora Garrison 2-0, Taryn Mjelde 2-0, Stephanie Conliffe 0-1, Monica Lodato 0-1, Sasha Paskal 0-1.
DB Doubles: Kim Preston/Nicole Eskenazi 1-2, Katie O’Brien/Rachel Amspoker 0-2, Oriane Mattys/Hanna Schmitz 1-2, Amspoker/Gaby 1-0
SB Doubles: Hanna Grokenberger/Kinzie McKeown 2-0, Grace Flintermann/Ariel Beckerman 1-0, Talia Hudson/Stephanie Thornton 1-0, T. Hudson/Savannah Fox 1-0, Beckerman/Emily Baum 1-0, Baum/Madison Severy 0-1, Lauren Feuer/Brianna Friden 0-1, Alex Demopoulos/Aubrey Macker 0-1.
