Carpinteria survived its second straight long road trip and advanced to the CIF Division 5 girls tennis semifinals on Monday with a 15-3 win at Beaumont.
The top-seeded and defending CIF-champion Warriors (21-2) will be home Wednesday for a semifinal match against Arlington.
Carpinteria handed Beaumont (19-1) its first loss. It built a 5-1 lead in the first round and never looked back.
“We were early this time (no traffic) to our match and had a little time to unwind and decompress a bit,” Carpinteria coach Charles Bryant said. The team barely arrived in time for its second-round match at Vista del Lago in Moreno Valley last week.
“Almost everyone came out strong despite some very gusty winds. We won the first round 5-1
and seemed to take control of the overall match from there. We didn’t let up and stayed focused throughout the next two rounds,” said Bryant.
The doubles teams came up with some key wins for the Warriors. The No. 2 team of Merissa Souza/Gabi Montes De Oca battled back from a 5-2 deficit in the second round and won the set 7-5. They went 3-0 on the day. At No. 3, Lesly Zapata/Natalie Saito went 2-0 in sets, rallying from a 3-0 deficit in the second set to win 7-5. Saito then paired with Allison Wagner to win their last set. Makenna Pike/Emily Saito rebounded from a first-set loss and won their next two at No. 1 doubles.
In singles, Kelsie Bryant didn’t lose a game in going 3-0 in sets. Kassandra Ni won two sets before suffering an injury and defaulting her last set.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed she will be available for the semifinals,” said Bryant.
Odessa Stork went 2-0 and beat Beaumont’s previously undefeated player 6-1.
