Julia Gan set the tone with tiebreak win in the first round and Cate responded with a 12-6 victory at Oak Park in the second round of the CIF Division-2 Tournament.
Gan defeated Oak Park’s Sasha Romanova 7-6 in the first round in what turned out to be a pivotal match. Cate’s No. 3 Jackie Cai then took on Romanova in the second round.
“I think that win put Oak Park off-balance, because they’re used to sweeps from Romanova and Van Cott,” reported Rams head coach Trevor Thorpe. “It was pretty clear that Romanova was shaken from the first set while playing Cai.
“When Julia beats a strong player, her relentless style and physicality really wears down the opponent. Sometimes, that gives our other singles players the edge they need to win, too. Jackie did an excellent job of using that to her advantage today.”
Also doing their part for Cate was the doubles teams of Summer Christensen/McKenna Madden and Eva Herman/Janice Ng. The two tandems picked up six points for the Rams with sweeps.
Cate will play either Murrieta Valley or Santa Monica in the next round.
