Glendale Community College women’s tennis has regional final fever
During its first two playoff matches, the Glendale Community College women’s tennis team has encountered some hiccups in doubles.
In Southern California Regional postseason matches against Irvine Valley and Cerritos, Glendale dropped two of three sets in doubles before turning to its formidable singles lineup to rally for victories.
Second-seeded Glendale (17-2) will look to avoid falling into another early hole when it takes on top-seeded Mount San Antonio (22-1) in a regional final at 2 p.m. Saturday in Walnut. The winner will meet third-seeded Modesto (13-3) or fourth-seeded Fresno (15-0) from the Northern regional in the championship match Wednesday at the Ojai Invitational.
“We’ve been working on some things we’ve needed to work on, including being a little more prepared in doubles,” said Glendale Coach Deo Sy, who guided Glendale to its first Western State Conference championship in program history. “We were able to overcome our struggles during those first two playoff matches, but we’re going to need to get at least two wins in doubles against Mt. SAC.
“If you can get at least two wins, then you have that bit of a cushion. Anything can happen, but we want to make it count in doubles because every point [in the final score] will be crucial in what could come down to a very close match either way.”
Glendale opened the playoffs April 7 with a 5-2 home win against seventh-seeded Irvine Valley before posting a 5-4 semifinal home victory against fourth-seeded Cerritos on Tuesday. Now, Glendale will play its first postseason road match against a Mt. SAC squad that bested eighth-seeded Grossmont (5-0) and third-seeded Riverside (5-1).
The Mounties posted a 5-3 nonconference home win against the Vaqueros on Jan. 29 and went on to win the South Coast Conference crown. It was Glendale’s first match of the season.
Looking to advance to the state final for the first time will likely be quite a challenge for the Vaqueros, who have won eight matches in a row. It’s one they relish.
“We are overly excited about having that chance,” said Glendale’s Brigitta Benitez, a sophomore. “We feel like we’ve become united and we’ve earned getting here.
“It will be a tough match, but we feel like we have one of the top teams.”
Glendale’s Amy Shigenaga recorded a 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 victory against Mariia Yatsenko of Cerritos to clinch GCC’s second-round win and extend the Vaqueros’ season.
“We have so many good players and we’ve been through a lot throughout the year,” Shigenaga said. “It’s all about it being a bonus to have gotten this far.”
Mt. SAC will also figure to be more poised entering Saturday’s contest.
“They have a great team and are as deep as we are,” said Sy, who received singles wins from Meredy Gharabegi, Benitez and Ayaka Takeuchi to turn back Cerritos. “We played them early in the season and it’s funny how it’s come full circle.
“When we lost to them, our players were pretty upset and they wanted another shot at Mt. SAC. The only way to play them again would be in the finals and now they’ve been given another opportunity.”
The Mounties, who have won four consecutive matches, received doubles win from Pyper Brown and Judy Ung, Connie Aranguiz and Kristen Canones and Tran Bui and Ysabella Matute to take a 3-0 advantage against Riverside. The Mounties then got singles wins from Brown and Bui.
