Agoura Girls Win Round 1 Against Thousand Oaks

After a match that lasted more than four hours, the superlatives flowed from Agoura High girls tennis Coach Vicki Sveda.

“Watching these two teams was like watching Ali and Frazier fight, that’s how good the tennis was today,” she said. “It was phenomenal tennis.

“I won’t be able to go to sleep tonight.”

If not, Sveda had better prepare for more sleepless nights. Most of the key figures in Agoura’s 11-7 nonleague victory over Thousand Oaks on Wednesday will be back.

Both teams used seven players who have at least a year of eligibility remaining. This time around, the kiddie corps from Agoura, rated third in the Southern Section 3-A Division coaches’ poll, prevailed over No. 2-ranked Thousand Oaks.

Sveda expects to see much more of Thousand Oaks--this year and in the future.

“It’s obvious we’re both going to be around for a few years,” she said.

Wednesday’s match only seemed to last that long.

Agoura (8-0), sticking to its regular lineup, won eight of nine singles matches. Charger senior Kathie Teobaldi lost to Thousand Oaks sophomore Kirstin Smith to spoil Agoura’s bid for a perfect singles slate. Teobaldi won her other two matches, defeating Constance McKenna, 6-2, and Amy Kossoris, 6-0.

Junior Jennifer Whitney and sophomore Trisha Silverman dropped only nine games in winning their six matches, pinning a pair of losses on Smith, rated among the Southern Section’s top 10 in singles.

Agoura’s singles advantage was expected, Sveda said, because Thousand Oaks used its top singles player--junior Rachel Collins--in doubles in an attempt to amass points.

It almost worked. Thousand Oaks won six of nine doubles matches, but came up short when the center of its ploy--Collins and Julie Baroway--dropped two of three matches.

“We knew it would be close,” Sveda said. “They knew our strength was in doubles. This is the third time teams have tried that against us, and we’ve won all three matches. We just stay with our top guns throughout. We don’t like to make adjustments for other people.”