Carpinteria’s Kelsie Bryant battled her way into the round of 16 of the CIF-Southern Section Individual Tennis Tournament on Thursday, beating Kristina Breisacher of Santa Margarita, 6-1, 7-6 (7).
Bryant will play her round of 16 match Friday at the Seal Beach Tennis Club.
After being the aggressor in the first set, Bryant found herself in a tight battle with Breisacher in the second set.
Coach Charles Bryant said Kelsie played a little more defensively in the second set.
“Her shots were not deep and her opponent was just feasting on those short balls,” he said.
Kelsie fell behind 3-0, but she recovered behind a combination of aggressive offense and solid defense and won five straight games. She was serving to win the match and was up 40-15, but Breisacher hung in and got the game to deuce. The Santa Margarita player pulled out the game and then held serve to tie the set at 5-5. Each player held serve in the next two games, sending the set into a tiebreaker.
The score went back and forth until Kelsie force Breisacher into an error and won the tiebreak 9-7.
“She was definitely tired and thankful it did not go to a third set,” said coach Bryant. “The
match lasted 2 1/2 hours as it was.”
