HIGH SCHOOL PLAYOFF ROUNDUP : Powayâs Pills Provide Title, Give Torrey Pines a Pain
A half hour before their first set, Powayâs No. 2 doubles team pulled out a plastic container labeled, âTennis Control Pills,â and immediately broke into fits of laughter.
The pills, mere jelly beans, were a gift from Heather Kritzerâs father and they amusingly promised racquet, ball, and temper control.
âWe took some,â Kritzer said. âAnd they worked.â
Evidently. Poway defeated Torrey Pines, 10-8, for the San Diego Section 3-A girlsâ team tennis championship Saturday at Tennis Escondido, giving Coach Evi Yarnell her third championship since its 1983 title.
In what has become a postseason ritual, Bishopâs met La Jolla for the 2-A title. Bishopâs 11-7 victory gave the Knights their third consecutive title. Bishopâs met La Jolla for team titles from 1977 to 1981 and since the 2-A/3-A split in 1985, no other teams have played in the 2-A final. La Jolla leads the series, 8-3.
Seniors Anna Vortmann and Branaca Elsberry were freshmen at Bishopâs in 1986, the last time La Jolla won. They said being a part of the turnaround is memorable.
âAll those years we lost and then we helped turn it around,â said team captain Vortmann, who played in the No. 3 singles spot and won one set and dropped two.
âWe were part of the beginning,â Elsberry said. âItâs special because weâre such a small school.â Both championships were unusual in that each winner had met the runners-up twice in league play. Poway, which finished the season without a loss, (22-0) had defeated Torrey Pines 15-3 and 12-6 in the Palomar League. Bishopâs (15-3) had a harder time with La Jolla, winning 11-7 and 10-8 in the City Western League.
It was Bishopâs doubles strength and Powayâs singles strength that made the difference. Both won six and lost three sets of each.
Two doubles teams and two singles players finished the day with perfect 3-0 records. Elsberry and Janine Schiess teamed at No. 1 doubles for Bishopâs and won handily, 6-1, 6-2 and 6-2 while teammate Brooke Gelardi, playing in the No. 2 slot, won 6-2, 6-2, 6-0. For the Titans, No. 1 Sayaka Kimura (6-2, 6-1, 6-0) dropped the fewest games and No. 1 doubles for Torrey Pines, Kim Sherrod and Kelly Kestler, won 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
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