Thousand Oaks Advances to Tennis Final

Thousand Oaks High Coach Gail Ellis was clearly nervous about her tennis team’s Southern Section 3-A semifinal against Agoura. And the fact that Ellis is three months pregnant didn’t help matters any.

But after the Lancers got off to a fast start and defeated No. 2-ranked Agoura, 11-7, on Thursday at Thousand Oaks, Ellis’ stomach settled somewhat.

“This year I think we have the strongest and most balanced team yet,” said Ellis, who has led the team to the playoffs each of the last three years.

The loss was the first this season for Agoura in 21 matches. Thousand Oaks, which avenged an earlier loss to the Chargers, is 20-3.

The Lancers will face San Marino on Tuesday at the Western Racquet Club in Torrance for the 3-A title.

It won’t be the first time the Lancers have faced the Titans this year. Thousand Oaks lost to San Marino, 12-6, in the first week of the season, but team members insist they have improved since the defeat.

“San Marino has a very strong team, but we have really gotten better since we lost to them,” said Rachel Collins, who won two singles matches Thursday. “They have everything to lose since we weren’t even supposed to beat Agoura.”

While Collins and Kirsten Smith were sweeping their singles sets, it was doubles play that led the Lancers, Ellis said.

“I said before the match that if each doubles team could win two of their three matches, we would be right in there,” Ellis said. “And we managed to do even better than that.”

The No. 3 team of Constance McKenna and Catherine Bottenburg won their first two matches, and the rest of the Lancers team held their end of the agreement, winning seven of the nine matches. The Lancers’ No. 1 team of Kirsten Thorstenson and Diane Borck won all three of their sets.

But Ellis pointed out the singles as well.

“Before we started, I figured we would have to win three of six in singles,” Ellis said. “Winning five of six was just gravy.”

Thanks in part to a tendon problem in her wrist, Collins played a base line waiting game to knock off Agoura’s Cathie Teobaldi and Tricia Silverman. Collins, the Lancers’ No. 1 singles player, lobbed Agoura into submission, taking advantage of many unforced errors by Teobaldi and Silverman.

In contrast, Smith, a sophomore ranked No. 11 in the 16-and-under junior amateur class in Southern California, had little trouble with Teobaldi or Jennifer Whitney. Despite struggling with her first serve, Smith blew away both opponents with passing shots and a wicked forehand.

Collins admitted that it would take a similar team effort to beat San Marino in the finals.

“Their top two singles players are very, very good,” said Collins, a junior who will be making her second trip to the Southern Section finals. “We will have to play just as strong as we did today.”

With only two seniors on the nine-member team, Ellis is hoping familiarity will breed confidence when the team again faces top-ranked San Marino.

“We had a couple of players out during that match,” Ellis said. “We have everybody back now.”