Like Friday’s unusual weather, the CIF Individual Playoffs started bright but turned dreary in the afternoon for the top local girls tennis players competing at Cate School and Carpinteria High.
Dos Pueblos sophomore Lauren Stratman
Channel League singles finalists Rachel Decker-Sadowski and Lauren Stratman each won two matches in the morning before losing in the Round of 32. Likewise, Channel League doubles champions Haley Hranicky-Galitzer and Aurora Garrison won their first two matches and sailed to a 6-0 first-set win in their final match before falling 0-6, 7-5, 10-2 to Thousand Oaks’ Tara Erb and Melissa Baker.
Friday’s regional tournament sends four singles players and four doubles teams to CIF’s Round of 16, hosted at the Seal Beach Tennis Center.
A busy schedule finally caught up with Decker-Sadowski, as she ran out of gas against Sabrina Santamaria and dropped the final nine games of the match to lose 6-3, 6-0.
“I definitely woke up. I was really sluggish in the first couple games,” said Santamaria. “Then I woke up and started making all my shots, being more consistent and I made her play.”
The Campbell Hall junior was effective at moving around the Dons’ senior, picking her spots to fire off one of her many winners.
“My body feels fine, I’m just mentally exhausted,” admitted Decker-Sadowski after the match.
Decker-Sadowski, Garrison and Hranicky-Galitzer played in emotionally-draining playoff matches on Tuesday and Thursday this week, both involving long road trips. Thursday’s was made worse by a season-ending 10-8 loss at Chadwick.
Santamaria, a Campbell Hall junior ranked in the top-20 nationally in the girls 18s, defeated Cate’s Madi Snider 6-2, 6-0 in her first match of the day.
For Stratman, a Dos Pueblos sophomore, the day started off easily enough with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Nisha Leeavanich. But in the second set of her second match, Stratman was attacked by leg cramps for the first time.
“I got a huge leg cramp in my calf when I served and it just went downhill from there,” Stratman said. “I never experienced them before so it was kind of shocking. I didn’t know what to do so I took an injury timeout.”
Stratman played through and it eventually stopped, but not before Westlake’s Sivan Krems took the second set 6-2. Stratman regrouped to take the super-tiebreaker 10-6 and advanced to face Palos Verdes’ Miya Jin.
Jin never trailed against Stratman, confidently coming to the net to get easy points when she needed them.
Laguna Blanca’s Caitlin Connor and Olivia Liebman lost in the first round to CAMS’ Haley Castigan and Tiana Takenaga. Santa Barbara’s Talia and Ariana Hudson also made a first-round exit from the doubles draw.
ROUND OF 32 SINGLES RESULTS
Sarah Lee, Campbell Hall, def. Brianna Morgan of Beverly Hills, 6-2, 2-6, 10-6
Miya Jin, Palos Verdes, def. Lauren Stratman, Dos Pueblos, 6-4, 6-1
Kiryang Kim, West Torrance, def. Shannon Libaw, Crossroads, 6-1, 6-1
Sabrina Santamaria, Campbell Hall, def. Rachel Decker-Sadowski, Santa Barbara, 6-3, 6-0
ROUND OF 32 DOUBLES RESULTS
Ella Taylor/Della Taylor, Redondo Union, def. Nicole Hung/Isabel Heller, Harvard-Westlake 6-2, 6-1
Tara Erb/Melissa Baker, Thousand Oaks, def. Haley Hranicky-Galitzer/Aurora Garrison, Santa Barbara, 0-6, 7-5, 10-2
Morgan Thomas/Alex Scotten, Palos Verdes, def. Haley Costigan/Tiana Takenaga, CAMS, 6-1, 7-5
Valerie Thong/Zoe Katz, Campbell Hall, def. Emilie Fraczek/Clarice Fraczek, Valencia, 6-2, 6-1
