The duo, who posted a 6-5 regular-season record, finished third
at the two-day Tri-County Athletic League Championships, easily
eclipsing Brenda Ponce and Lexi Flores in the third-place match
6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday in Salinas.
SALINAS – Aside form perhaps a trip to the Central Coast Section playoffs, seniors Elaina Vasquez and Melanie Morelos concluded their prep tennis careers the best way possible.
The duo, who posted a 6-5 regular-season record, finished third at the two-day Tri-County Athletic League Championships, easily eclipsing Brenda Ponce and Lexi Flores in the third-place match 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday in Salinas.
“A very great ending to their season as seniors,” GHS head coach Jami Reynolds said. “I was very excited for them.”
The tandem defeated Yvonne Casillas and Ann Legaspi out of Everett Alvarez High in the first round 6-2, 6-2 on Monday. The girls then proceeded to knock off Carmena Flores and Megan Tuvera from Notre Dame in dramatic fashion in Round 2.
Trailing five-games-to-one, the girls roared all the way back to seize the first set 7-5, using that momentum to notch the second set 6-3 and advance to Tuesday’s semifinals.
“I have never seen them play so well, they just turned it on and never looked back,” Reynolds said.
Vasquez and Morelos were faced with the task of taking on the tournament’s No. 1-seed and eventual champions, Casey Watt and Melina Nobusada, from Salinas High in the semis. But the upset bid fell short, 0-6, 4-6.
Gilroy’s other doubles team in the field, Lindsay Holt and Sami Holder, who had won three of their last four matches to end the regular season, ran into stiff competition in Monday’s opening round, losing 1-6, 0-6 to Salinas’ Kalah Seigle and Paige Zimmerman.
“Lindsay and Sami were playing amazing the last two weeks but it wasn’t their day, which happens in tennis sometimes, unfortunately,” Reynolds added.
Jennifer Kwong, who served as Gilroy’s No. 1-singles player during the regular season, endured a grueling, back-and-forth two-hour match against San Benito’s Audrey Marshall, eventually succumbing in three sets, 7-6, 3-5, 7-10.
“It was very close and it could have went either way,” Reynolds said. “It was the best tennis Jennifer has played all year.”
Satthea Khay, Gilroy’s No. 2-singles player, also saw her season end in a third-set tiebreaker, dropping a close 2-6, 6-4, 5-10 decision to Alisal’s Karla Guillen.
“Satthea played hard and kept attacking the net but Karla had some amazing lobs,” Reynolds said of the match.
Salinas’ Joy Johnson won the singles title, beating Notre Dame’s Auburn Carpenter, 6-3, 6-2 in the championship match.
