La Cañada High girls’ tennis has no answer for Arcadia
LA CAÑADA — It was one of those matches that had to be played and so the La Cañada High girls’ tennis team obliged, mostly.
Bearing witness to the strength and depth of Arcadia High again, the Spartans were defeated, 16-0, in nonleague play by the visiting CIF Southern Section Division I eighth-ranked Apaches on Tuesday afternoon.
La Cañada Coach Will Moravec asked that the final two sets be skipped and Arcadia agreed, leading to the odd score.
The Spartans (1-2) have been blanked twice during the last four regular seasons, both times against Arcadia. Last season, the Apaches also won, 18-0, in La Cañada.
“Just look at the score, they showed no mercy,” quipped Moravec of the Apaches (6-0), the reigning CIF-SS Division II champions. “They’re just impressive and when their top three singles players are beating our No. 1 by good scores, you know they’re good, very good.”
La Cañada sophomore Sophie McKenzie, a CIF Individual doubles semifinalist a year ago, finished 0-2 at No. 1 singles for the Spartans.
McKenzie was defeated by Arcadia’s Michelle Deng, 6-4, in a thrilling set between each school’s top singles play before losing, 6-3, in her final set.
No other Spartans singles player won more than two games.
Perhaps the Spartans’ closest chance at victory came in the matchup of La Cañada’s No. 1 doubles squad of Ashley Chun and Solenn Matuska and Arcadia’s No. 3 of Aubrie Weissbuch and Francesca Yao.
The Spartans duo led, 4-3, before surrendering the final three games and the set, 6-4.
“It was disappointing [to lose] because we were up in the game,” Chun said. “We tried our best and it didn’t happen. The goal every time is to do your best and we did that.”
The Spartans did not win more than one game in any other doubles set as Arcadia ultimately and impressively won 54 of 63 overall doubles games.
“Maybe if we keep the full lineup in, we don’t get shut out,” Moravec said. “But other than a set or two at the most, Arcadia still wins this match. I wanted to rotate in some other players to get some experience against an excellent team.”
The bad news for the Spartans is that they’ll have some time to linger on the loss as their next match isn’t until Sept. 21 against crosstown rival Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy.
Though the contest is a week away, Moravec is ready to move on.
“We’re looking forward to FSHA,” he said. “It’s a good local rivalry and it’s a team that’s more at our level.”
