Madison Hale scored a big singles win in the last round, sending Santa Barbara High to a 12-6 victory over Palos Verdes in the second round of the CIF Division 1 girls tennis playoffs.
Hale’s win clinched the match for the Dons, who won seven of the last eight sets to put away the Sea Kings on their home court.
“I was very pleased with the way our girls competed today,” Santa Barbara coach Greg Tebbe said. “Palos Verdes is a solid, well-balanced team and we struggled early in the match but once our girls got used to the unfamiliar courts they really played some quality tennis.”
Mattea Kilstofte went 3-0 in singles and the doubles team of Karina Thornton and Lexy Gulden also went undefeated in their three sets.
The match was tied at 3-3 after the first round and was at 5-5 midway through the second round. Santa Barbara picked up its play at that point and won seven of the last eight sets.
The Dons (14-3) will next play at Corona del Mar in the quarterfinals. The teams met in the regular season and CdM won the match 10-8.
“I like how we are playing right now and look forward to playing Corona Del Mar,” Tebbe said. “There is a great rivalry between the two schools going back many years in both girls and boys tennis. It should be a terrific match.”
Santa Barbara singles:
Mattea Kilstofte 3-0
Madison Hale 2-1
Mia Wilkinson 0-1
Maddie Cuttler 0-2
Doubles
Karina Thornton / Lexy Gulden 3-0
Megan Grant / Lisa Santry 2-1
Kelli Martindale / Hailey deBoer 2-1
