Rollicking Westlake Upsets No. 2 Calabasas

As their bus pulled away in the wake of victory Wednesday, the girls on the Westlake High tennis team were hooting and hollering in celebration.

They earned the party.

A day after they won a grueling Marmonte League match on tiebreakers against Thousand Oaks, the unranked Warriors faced Calabasas, the second-ranked team in Southern Section Division II. Showing no signs of fatigue in the nonleague match, Westlake (9-1) upset the Coyotes, 11-7.

“This was a big win for us,” Westlake Coach Connie Flanderka said. “The way we were playing out there today, it didn’t matter who they had out there.”

Strong singles play by Erin Smith, Helena Horak and Katy Smith and a bit of Calabasas misfortune helped the Warriors.

Elyse McKay, who plays at No. 3 doubles with Michele Silver for the Coyotes (9-1), twisted her ankle and had to retire with a 2-1 lead in the first set.

Under Southern Section rules, once a lineup is announced no substitutions are allowed. McKay and Silver forfeited all three of their sets.

Jara Goldstein and Jennifer Azevedo swept three sets at No. 1 doubles, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0, and Brittany and Nicole Jensky duplicated the sweep with 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 victories for the Warriors, who won seven of nine doubles sets.

Calabasas also played without its usual No. 2 singles player, Kirsten Gross, who missed the match because of illness.

“We were all mixed up and sideways when we started,” Coyote Coach Bob Holycross said. “I wasn’t expecting their singles to be that good.”

Horak handed Debra Pepkowitz (No. 2 singles) her first loss of the season, 6-4.

Then Katy Smith (No. 3 singles), who had lost her first two matches of the day, handed Pepkowitz her second loss with an overwhelming 6-0 victory. Pepkowitz is 25-2 this season.

“I just wasn’t going to lose three sets,” Smith said. “I just played with more patience and didn’t double-fault as much.”

Shera Wiegler (No. 1 singles) rode her powerful ground strokes to 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 victories--the only Coyote sweep of the day.

Gross, reached at home after the match, was shocked at the results.

“What?” she said when told her team had lost. “Who did they have?”

Before the match, Flanderka considered moving her stronger singles players to doubles--in essence conceding the singles points--in an effort to gain more points in doubles.

Fortunately for her, it was just a passing thought.

Said Flanderka: “I just had to have confidence in my girls, and I had to show them I had confidence in them.”