Browne takes PAL tennis title

“I was just ready to do whatever the coaches told me.”

Browne went on to earn the No. 1 singles spot for the Bears this season and went through the regular season undefeated, earning her the No. 1 seed in the Peninsula Athletic League individual championships.

In Thursday’s singles championship match, Browne lived up to that No. 1 billing. Taking on No. 2 seed Annika Lin of Carlmont, Browne used her consistent groundstrokes and a scrambling style at times to post a 6-2, 6-2 victory.

It was the third time this season Browne topped Lin.

“It was a good tournament. Annika is a really tough player,” Browne said. “I try to be as consistent as possible (with my shots). Sometimes I’ll just rally instead of just going for winners.”

That rally style worked well for Browne because there were quite a few long rallies. But when it came down to it, Browne’s consistency got the better of Lin, who, inevitably, seemed to be the first to blink and lose pivotal points.

“I wish I could have focused more,” Lin said. “I was thinking of other things.”

The other thing that plagued Lin was her serving. She struggled with her first serve for most of the first set and double faulted on a number of occasions.

“I think I started a little weak,” Lin said. “I was just a little rushed at first.”

With Browne leading 3-2 and on serve in the first set, she took control of the set when she broke Lin’s serve for a 4-2 lead following a Lin double fault on game point. Browne would then hold serve at love for a 5-2 advantage, before getting a second straight break to take the first set.

Browne opened the second set with a win on serve and then broke Lin for the third time in a row for a 2-0 lead. Both players held serve over the next five games, with Browne taking a 5-2 lead.

Lin, serving to stay in the match, led 40-15 before Browne battled back to force a deuce point before Lin committed one more unforced error to give Browne the championship.

“I felt pretty confident with how I’ve been playing,” Browne said. “I’ve been playing some of my best tennis lately.”

Browne’s win capped another strong showing for Menlo-Atherton. In addition to Browne, the M-A doubles team of Charlie Smith and Katie Donahue won the doubles title in a walkover when their opponents and teammates, Laura Kirk and Nia Zisman, were forced to default because of an injury.

The Bears also claimed the third-place singles spot as Sophia Longo, who served as the Bears’ No. 2 singles player for most of the season, beat Aragon Christina Fu, 6-2, 6-2.

“I played pretty well,” Longo said. “I’m a senior now, so it was nice to see the transition from my freshman year.”

In the third-place doubles match, Half Moon Bay’s Rachel Brody and Lani Southern gave the Cougars some success after not experiencing much during the league season as they topped Carlmont’s Alyssa Nguyen and Juhi Mehta 6-4, 6-2.

Brody and Southern, the Cougars’ top two singles players, have some experience as a doubles team after teaming for the PAL tournament last season.

“We’ve been a doubles team before, but never that good,” Southern said.

But they did get some time in together during the regular season and it seemed to come together for them in the PAL tournament.

“I feel like we really came together in the last week,” Brody said. “It’s really satisfying, but honestly, it was a lot of fun.”