Southern Section Tennis : Doubles Teams Help Valencia Win the 2-A Title

After the first round of the Southern Section girls’ 2-A team tennis finals at The Claremont Club on Tuesday, John Cyrus, Valencia High School coach, gathered his players around him for a little pep talk.

Valencia trailed in sets, 4-2, at that point as a light rain briefly held up play.

Once the drizzle stopped, the Tigers rallied to tie Indio, 9-9, and won the title on games won, 79-75.

“The turning point was the rain,” Cyrus said. “It gave us a chance to get off the courts and settle ourselves down. We were down, then we came back and tied them, 6-6, after the second round. We had the momentum going into the third round.

“We have a number of young players, and sometimes fear immobilizes you.”

Valencia won by taking seven of the nine doubles sets. Diann Stoll and Stacy Zirwas, Valencia’s No. 1 doubles team, won their three sets, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0.

Valencia’s only victories in singles sets came from its No. 1 player, Diane Ewing, who won two. Indio took the other seven singles sets.

Ewing, a senior, beat Indio’s Ashlee Chooljian, 6-3, in the third and final round of play to pull the Tigers even at 9-9. After a few tense moments of adding up the individual games, Cyrus told his team the Tigers had won. The Valencia players then toasted their first championship with sparkling apple cider. The past four seasons, Valencia had advanced to the semifinals before losing.

For Indio, it was the second straight championship lost on games won. Indio tied Chaminade of Canoga Park last season, but lost on games, 72-66.

Ewing had lost in the opening round, 6-4, to Angie Ealy, Indio’s No. 1 singles player.

Ealy led the Indio singles players, sweeping all three sets. The final two scores were 6-0, 6-0.

“I didn’t count on getting as few points in singles,” Cyrus said. “I know it sounds arrogant, but I thought we would probably win, 11-7.”

Valencia nearly won it outright with two late matches in the final round.

Sena Grondzik, the Tigers’ No. 3 singles player, pushed Babette Francis, Indio’s No. 2 player, to a tiebreaker before losing, 7-6.

And the Tigers’ doubles team of Laura Emge and Debbie Richard could not hold off Tiffany Brinlee and Kristi Engle, losing, 6-4.

The rain postponed play in the 3-A final between Laguna Hills and San Marino Tuesday afternoon. The teams will meet at 1:30 today at the Nellie Gail Ranch Tennis Club in Laguna Hills.

The teams began play, then the rain started. It stopped shortly thereafter and play resumed an hour later, after players, coaches and officials used squeegees to push the water off the courts. It began raining again before any sets could be completed, however.