Camarillo Turns Upside Down to Edge Westlake in Girls’ Tennis

In tennis, the elite players usually dominate. But Camarillo High’s girls turned to the two lowest players on their ladder to upset top-ranked Westlake in a Marmonte League showdown Tuesday afternoon.

Ethel Cheng and Rachel Mayo, Camarillo’s No. 3 doubles team, didn’t win a set Tuesday. But they combined to force Westlake’s Lauren Mazur and Andrea Hura into a tiebreaker and that pushed the host Scorpions to the narrowest of victories.

The schools tied, 9-9, in sets won but Camarillo was declared the winner, 70-69, on total number of games won.

The win forged a tie atop the Marmonte standings. Camarillo, ranked third in the Southern Section 3-A Division, is 15-2, and 12-1 in league play. Westlake, the defending 3-A champion, also is 15-2, 12-1. Both schools have one league match remaining--Camarillo travels to Thousand Oaks (10-3 in league play) Thursday at 2:30 p.m., and Westlake plays host to Newbury Park (3-10).

Cheng and Mayo nearly pulled off an upset in their first set of the day, falling, 7-5, to Michelle Clark and Catherine King. But the Camarillo pair came up with an even bigger surprise in their next set. Trailing Mazur and Hura, 5-2, Cheng and Mayo battled back to win three consecutive games, forcing the tiebreaker on a Cheng ace.

Mazur and Hura rebounded with some sharp volleys and ground strokes in the tiebreaker, however, to salvage the tiebreaker, 7-3.

Singles standouts Molly White and Monique Allegre also had big days for the Scorpions as each swept three sets. White beat Joanna Mazur, Blayne Carter and Jennifer Reese, 6-2, 6-0, 6-1, and Allegre stopped that same trio, 6-1, 6-0, 6-2, as Camarillo rolled up a 6-3 advantage in singles.

“I don’t like to lose, but Camarillo played tough,” said Westlake Coach Connie Flanderka, whose team beat Camarillo on a tiebreaker at Westlake last month. “It’s better to lose here, though, than in (the playoffs) . . . This makes our kids realize how important every game is.”