Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy girls’ tennis enjoys day in Sunshine
GLENDALE — Years of frustration gave way to yells of elation Tuesday afternoon for the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy tennis team.
By virtue of the Tologs’ impressive 12-6 victory over visiting Los Angeles Notre Dame Academy at Fremont Tennis Center, Flintridge Sacred Heart picked up the rarest of accolades in clinching a share of the Sunshine League title.
“We haven’t won a league title since 1983 and the girls knew what was at stake today,” Flintridge Sacred Heart Coach Ron Zambrano said. “It’s nice to finally have a chance this season and not run into teams we have no business playing in league like (Division I ninth-ranked) Harvard-Westlake. It’s special for this program and for the girls to win the championship and to say we’re No. 1.”
With the victory, Flintridge Sacred Heart improved to 8-5 overall and 6-0 in league and clinched a piece of the title, as the Tologs swept the two-match season series with current second-place squad Notre Dame Academy (4-2 in league) with two contests remaining for both sides.
Flintridge Sacred Heart can clinch the title outright Thursday versus Immaculate Heart at Griffith Park.
While the Tologs had expected to win Tuesday afternoon, perhaps the nature of the victory was surprising.
The Regal Gryphons battled the Tologs well in a 10-8 defeat at Fremont on Oct. 9 and more of the same type of tight play was expected, at least according to Zambrano.
“We were missing a couple of girls today and I honestly thought the score would be the same or maybe closer than last time,” Zambrano said. “I thought we’d win eight sets in doubles and two sets in singles. I was surprised that we did better than that.”
While Zambrano’s doubles teams held up their end of the bargain, winning eight of nine sets, the singles side contributed a double dosage in winning four sets.
Junior No. 1 singles player Camille Katz helped give the Tologs just the bit of separation they needed when she defeated Notre Dame junior Madeline Samuelian, 7-5, in the final set of the second round, which put Flintridge Sacred Heart ahead, 7-5.
“I’m just trying to do my best and not get too nervous,” said Katz, who signaled to teammates at the closing moments of the sets to refrain from applause. “I wasn’t trying to be rude, I just was nervous.”
The victory was the first for Katz, who later closed out the match by rallying to defeat Regal Gryphons senior Aleks Ruplenas, 7-6 (7-5).
On the singles side, sophomore Kate Hodges also added two victories for the Tologs, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 to account for her squad’s other two victories.
As expected, doubles play led the way for the Tologs, who nearly completed a clean sweep.
The No. 1 duo of Bree Ryan and Lana Sarkisian won their three sets, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.
“We didn’t have a strong year last year and we felt like we had a new chance this year,” Ryan said. “We wanted to win league and Lana and I knew that doubles had to win.”
Flintridge Sacred Heart’s No. 2 doubles team of Ruby Wellen and Margaux Blain also swept, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0, while the No. 3 twosome of Ariana Saigh and Katie Arial delivered 6-0, 6-1 wins.
“Coming into this season, it was like a breath of fresh air to be able to compete for a league title,” said Zambrano, whose team was 4-11 and fifth in the rugged Mission League last season before joining the Sunshine League. “It’s nice that the girls had something different to shoot for this year.”