‘Bittersweet’ Nor Cal girls’ tennis title for Menlo

And the sun even managed to shine, no pun intended, throughout Menlo’s historic Monday afternoon triumph despite inclement weather throughout the weekend.

“It means the world to me what these girls have done,” Shine said, “and how they’ve worked so hard for this. It’s bittersweet. But I’m going to enjoy it.”

The Nor Cal championship match was originally scheduled for Saturday at Broadstone Sports Club in Rocklin, where Menlo won its quarterfinal 7-0 against Lowell, and its semifinal 5-2 against Monte Vista-Danville last Friday. With rain in Folsom over the weekend, however, Shine and Monta Vista head coach Gene Fortino agreed to move the Nor Cal title match closer to home at Menlo School.

Fortino had no complaints about playing on Menlo’s home courts.

“It’s just wonderful,” Fortino said of the slice of tennis heaven nestled between the campuses of Menlo School and Menlo College. “It’s really a great, great facility. It’s just amazing.”

With no seniors in the starting lineup, this wasn’t supposed to be Menlo’s year. Shine said his thoughts at the outset of the season had his young team a year away from competing. With his impending retirement at the end of the 2023-24 school year — Shine is still set to coach the Menlo boys’ tennis team in the spring — that meant his mission was to prime the inexperienced team for the yet to be determined incoming coaching staff.

As it turns out, the future is now. Menlo belied its No. 3 seed in the Central Coast Section team tournament to capture the program’s 11th section crown. Monday, the Knights persevered despite playing six three-set matches.

“It’s just unbelievable, what they did,” Shine said. “It’s probably the most improved team I’ve ever coached.”

While No. 1 single Andra Braicu took care of business with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win over Lelani Laruelle, and No. 3 single Emily Li finished out the day after her Knights had already clinched the victory, winning 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-5 over Niranjana Sankar, it was Menlo’s No. 2 and 4 singles who turned the tide.

No. 2 Elise Chen and No. 4 Izzy Klugman each dropped their opening sets, and each rallied back to win, giving Menlo wins at all four singles matches.

“This is just so amazing,” Klugman said. “I know at the beginning of the season, we weren’t sure how we were going to do because we had a completely new team, basically. We had 11 new girls on the team, five of them were freshmen, they were all starting in the lineup. So, it was very young, and very inexperienced. At the beginning of the season, I knew we had a lot of talent, but I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to pull it together ... but it worked out. Everybody, we figured it out at the end.”

Klugman has 19 wins to her credit this season. She won the first set in the previous 18. So, dropping the opener in her eventual 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 victory was a wakeup call. The junior was already waking up, overcoming a 4-1 deficit in the first set to force a tiebreaker.

“I guess that kind of messed with my momentum and confidence,” Klugman said, “because I was already on a run, and then she stopped it short. So, I knew I had to change up what I was doing and get my energy back up even though I had a disappointing loss in the first set.”

Klugman won the pivotal first game of the second set, though, with a game point — her final volley caught the top of the net and managed to eke over the net — that foreshadowed how it was destined to be Menlo’s day.

“Sometimes it spins out, but thankfully the net was nice to me,” Klugman said. “So, it bounced and dropped in, and she couldn’t get to it.”

Chen was uncharacteristically showing plenty of frustration through her opening set against Zoe Laruelle, especially when the first-set tiebreaker didn’t go her way.

“Normally I would say I’m not too emotional when I play,” Chen said. “Bill has told me that’s something he values in me. So, definitely the first set, I think that’s kind of why I lost, because I let my emotions get ahead of myself.”

The sophomore with the exacting forehand and surprising finesse backhand got back on track, though, winning it 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-1.

“Elise is used to it,” Shine said. “She’s very experienced, and she’s beaten this girl before a couple times. So, I had confidence that she would rebound. She’s in it for the long haul. She’ll stay up there as long as it takes.”

Chen’s cool demeanor returned, but never wavered in terms of her outlook on the team result.

“I feel like from the players that were playing, I know that they have a really strong mental game,” Chen said. “So, I thought it would be fine. And with Andra up in the third set, when I started, I was like: ‘OK, I just have to get my match and I think we’ll be good.’”

Menlo’s No. 2 doubles Kate Hsia and Sophia Jia won 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 over Himani Jha and Diya Sammanna. Monta Vista’s wins came at No. 1 doubles, with Varshetha Senthilkumat and Jillian Yang defeating Milla Bardony and Sulia Gayle 6-0, 6-2; and No. 3 doubles Vatsha Iyengat and Lisa Yoshida defeating Sofia Faris and Roslyn Zhou 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(8).

Menlo now advances to the CIF state girls’ tennis championships, Saturday at Fresno Pacific University to take on Southern California champion Mater Dei. It marks the first CIF state championship in girls’ tennis history.

“I’m looking forward to that,” Shine said. “And what a way to go out.”