Local tennis players advanced to the third round before being knocked out at the CIF Individuals Sectional on Monday at Cate and Carpinteria High.
Kelsie Bryant of CIF Division 5 team champion Carpinteria and Channel League champion Mattea Kilstofte finished one victory shy of advancing out of the sectional in singles.
“This was definitely the toughest of the five sectionals for singles as noted by the tournament directors and officials along with the fans in general,” Carpinteria coach Charles Bryant said. “The field was very deep and just loaded with talent. There were no easy opponents or matches. Even the one-sided matches were much closer than the scores indicated.”
Bryant opened with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Hanna Rosenberg of Buckley and then outlasted Santa Barbara’s Madison Hale, 6-1, 7-6 (5).
“Kelsie played fine in the first set but played a more defensive style in the second set and Madison gained a lot of momentum with that strategy,” coach Bryant said. “Kelsie was able to pull it out but it was not easy as she could not transition back to an offensive game.”
Hale beat Cate’s Julie Gan in the first round, 6-1, 6-2.
Bryant got off to a slow start against Lilit Vardanyan of Burbank and was unable to recover and fell, 6-3, 7-5.
“Kelsie started off the same way that she ended with Madison Hale as she was just out of sync,” coach Bryant said. “She was down 3-0 and had maybe won one point. But this time she was able to regain her offensive style and had much more confidence in her shots. The rest of the match was virtually even and I thought Kelsie played very well. She was exhausted throughout the second set but also was able to find an extra little kick to her game.”
After a first-round bye, Kilstofte defeated Bishop Montgomery’s Nnena Mendozie 6-3, 6-2 in the second round before falling to Arroyo Grande’s Sophie Whittle, 6-3, 6-3 to in the third round.
Carpinteria Odessa Stork beat Sarai Aguirre of Orcutt Academy, 6-3, 6-3, in the first round and fell to Lauren Louks of Malibu, 6-1, 6-0.
“Again, it was one of those matches that was closer than the score indicated,” coach Bryant said. “Lauren started strong and had a great first set but I was happy with Odessa’s play in the second set. Most of the points were tough and well contested by Odessa.”
In doubles, Santa Barbara’s Karina Thornton and Lexy Gulden lost in a third-set tiebreaker against Valencia’s Remy Balmain and Tina Inchalik, while the Dos Pueblos’s team of Katie Yang and K.C. Egger won their second-round match over Buckley High’s Sheridan March and Remi Alsallah 6-3, 6-2, before losing to Oaks Christian’s Sophie Bendetti and Haley Nelson, 7-5, 6-4.
Meredith Ampsoker and Emilee Krablin of Bishop Diego fell in the first round against Buckley’s Sheridan March-Remi Alfallah, 6-2, 6-0.
