GILROY—All the other matches had wrapped up, but Christopher’s Adena Chen and Gilroy’s Jessica Martin weren’t quite finished with each other yet.
The No. 1s were locked in a fierce back and forth battle which took a tiebreaker to decide. Chen came out the victor, winning 6-1, 4-6, 10-2 over Martin, helping the Cougars to a 6-1 victory at Gilroy Thursday.
“There were just simple mistakes that mostly got me in the end. She was really good at rallying so it was tough,” Martin said. “I wanted to win, but that obviously didn’t happen. It was fun; it was tough. It was disappointing in the end, but overall it was a good match.”
It was the first league match for both teams and also the first of the year for Gilroy. The Mustangs’ lone win came from the No. 1 doubles match. Savanna Brandon and Mya Esquivel topped Christopher’s Sydney Tran and Malia Campos 6-3 in the first set and won by default in the second.
“The girls played really hard,” first-year Gilroy coach Evan Gerhardt said. “They’re (Brandon and Esquivel) a good match together; they can both hit the ball pretty well. … I’m real proud of the girls and how hard they played today. Unfortunately it didn’t go our way in most of them, but you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Christopher. They’re a really good team and they’ve been good for many, many years.”
Jade Bardrick topped Gilroy’s Nicole Holder 6-0, 6-2 in the No. 2 singles match. Christopher’s No. 3 Tiffany Roberts also came away with an easy 6-2, 6-1 win over Carissa Jackson in her match.
Roberts credited playing year round tennis for her success over Jackson.
“Last year and the year before I didn’t do nearly as well as I have this year because I didn’t play during the summer. Doing a summer league this year definitely helped,” she said. “Today’s match was really fun. I love playing Gilroy because you know them and it’s nice.”
The No. 4 match featuring Cougar player Kaetlyn Lombardo and Mustang Ada Gailey ended in the same result as the No. 3 contest. Lombardo topped Gailey 6-2, 6-1.
Things were a little closer on the doubles side. Gilroy’s No. 2 team of Maggie Pickford and Angie Martin gave Christopher’s Kelly Nantais and Minna Wu a run for their money in the first set, but fell 3-6. The Cougars roared back for a dominate 6-0 win in the second set.
It was a similar situation for the No. 3 doubles team of Sara Blawski and Nikki Chen, who topped Flor Gil and Daniela Castillo of Gilroy 6-2, 6-1. The results, CHS coach Patrick McBrearty said, are due to the constant rotation of the doubles teams.
“We have to shift the line-up sometimes because of the availability of the kids,” he said. “I need to get the teams pretty well set if I can and let them understand that I need to play the players that have played with each other before.”
McBrearty said consistency will be key as the season continues and that he’s looking forward to a good year with his team. Christopher will be back on the court at 4 p.m. Tuesday against Monte Vista Christian at home.
“We’ve finally got some experience behind us, so that helps out quite a bit,” the Cougar coach said. “Some of the girls have been with us for four years, so this is great.”
Gerhardt said he was pleased with the overall performance of his singles players, but would like to see more collaboration between the doubles teams moving forward.
“I want to see more of our teams playing together a little bit more and more teamwork,” he said. “Once they get to know each other and understand how each other plays, then they’ll definitely improve on that.”
Gilroy will host North Salinas at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
