Wednesday’s girls tennis clash between Campbell Hall, the No. 2 team in Division I, and Santa Barbara, the No. 2 team in Division II, went down to the wire.
The match, which Campbell Hall won easily 14-4, had long since been decided but both teams surrounded the day’s last match, hanging on every point like it was the deciding set.
Santa Barbara's Grace Flintermann bends for a forehand volley against Campbell Hall
The Vikings’ Jenny Cheng and Bree Sinclair fought off several set points before Santa Barbara’s Haley Hranicky-Galitzer and Grace Flintermann were able to close out their second win of the day 6-4.
“At the end, we were just kind of on adrenaline and a little nervousness always helps,” recalled Hranicky-Galitzer, referring to the large crowd that developed at the end of the last set. “Even though we lost the match as a whole, it’s always important to have those matches when the pressure is on.”
The Dons’ lineup lacked two of its top players in Rachel Decker-Sadowski and Hanna Grokenberger, which forced head coach Steve Geremia to adjust.
“I’m very positive about the people that did play for us,” Geremia said. “We competed for a lot of points, a lot of games and that’s the kind of thing that makes you better, particularly mentally.
“Even though we lost badly, I thought we played some good tennis.”
Singles players Ariel Beckerman and Taryn Mjelde were responsible for the Dons’ other set wins, both against Campbell Hall’s No. 3 Priya Armritrat.
“Last year I lost to her 6-1 and to beat her 6-2 was really big for me,” admitted Mjelde, herself finding a small victory in the team’s loss. “It was a matter of being consistent instead of hitting winners.”
The Vikings’ other two singles players are absolute ringers, both holding top-10 rankings in girls-18s singles. Sabrina Santamaria and Sarah Lee weren’t tested, giving up as much as three games in a set only once while going 6-0.
San Marcos visits Santa Barbara on Thursday, which will be the third match in as many days for the Dons.
CAMPBELL HALL 14, SANTA BARBARA 4
SB Singles – Beckerman 1-2, Mjelde 1-2, Rodnick 0-3. CH Singles – Santamaria 3-0, Lee 3-0, Armritrat 2-1.
SB Doubles – Garrison/McKeown 1-2, Hranicky-Galitzer/Flintermann 2-1, T. Hudson/A. Hudson 0-2, Thornton/A. Hudson 0-1. CH Doubles – Thong/Katz 3-0, Calabro/Sodeghi 2-1, Cheng/Feldman 2-0, Cheng/Sinclair 0-1.
