It should come as no surprise the Carlmont girls’ tennis team punched its ticket to the Central Coast Section tournament. The top-seeded Scots’ win over No. 2 Burlingame in the Peninsula Athletic League CCS play-in tournament final Thursday secured their postseason berth.
Carlmont lost only two Bay Division matches this season — both to division champ Menlo-Atherton. The Scots swept everyone else in league play, including third-place Burlingame.
But not many would have predicted the manner in which Carlmont beat Burlingame in the tournament championship match.
The Scots dominated. Not only did they win 7-0, they did not drop a set in doing so.
Surprised?
“A little bit,” said Carlmont head coach Margaret Goldsmith. “There have been times here (in this tournament final) I’ve been biting my nails.”
If there was anyone who should have been biting their nails, it was the Panthers. Carlmont jumped out to be early leads at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 singles, and all three doubles matches. Burlingame, however, could not field it’s best lineup. Mila Mulready, the Panthers’ No. 1 singles and arguably the No. 2 player in the PAL, missed the match. She had to retire from her semifinal match Wednesday against Aragon’s Varsha Jawadi as she battled cold-like symptoms.
Burlingame’s Kaleia Daga tries to chase down a return during a straight-set loss at No. 1 doubles.
Nathan Mollat/Daily Journal
That then forced Burlingame assistant coach Doug Stone, filling in a still ill Bill Smith, to move everyone up a notch. Ella Rafferty moved to the top of the ladder, followed by Caitlin Stone at No. 2. Michelle Moshkovoy, who picked up a big win in Wednesday’s 4-3 victory over Aragon at No. 4 singles, moved to No. 3 and Rorie Stone took over the No. 4 spot. Coach Stone then insert the team’s super-sub, Izzy Kossar, into one of the slots at No. 1 doubles.
Even at full strength, Burlingame would have faced an uphill climb.
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“I’m not ‘blown-away’ surprised (at the final score),” Coach Stone said. “They were all competitive (matches). Carlmont’s good. They’re always tough.”
Carlmont was especially tough in the singles matches. Katherine Zhang gave the Scots their first point with a quick 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 4 singles. Chloe Khachadourian followed soon after with a 6-1, 6-0 victory as well at No. 1 singles.
From there, the Scots’ doubles teams took over, which is the team’s strength. The No. 1 tandem of Lisa Borchelt and Brooke Franaszek picked up Carlmont’s third team point with a 6-2, 6-3 win. The No. 3 doubles team of Delfina Bianchi and Addison Mann clinched the win with a 6-2, 6-4 decision.
The only question remained was: would Carlmont achieve the sweep? The Scots picked up their fifth point at No. 2 doubles, where Megan Bence, a freshman, and senior Mallika Agrawal proved a formidable combination with their play at the net, as they posted a 6-3, 6-3 decision.
“They can serve. They can volley. They can play an all-around game,” Goldsmith said. “A lot of kids come into (high school tennis) as groundstrokers. To convert to doubles, you have to develop a volley. … My [doubles] are good.”
That left just No. 2 and No. 3 singles to be decided. After cruising to a 6-3 win in the first set, Carlmont’s Ujala Chauhan needed to work a little bit harder in the second to dispatch Moshkovoy at No. 3 singles. The two stayed on serve until Chauhan earned a break to go up 5-3. She then served out the set for the sixth point of the day for the Scots.
Ashwika Narajan then rounded out the sweep at No. 2 singles. She won the first set 6-4, but fell behind 4-1 in the second set. Narajan rallied, however, winning five of the next six games to send the set to a tiebreaker, when she eventually won 7-2.
While Carlmont earned the PAL’s second-automatic berth to the CCS tournament, Burlingame still plans to apply for an at-large berth.
“Absolutely (will apply),” Coach Stone said. “We have every reason to be optimistic about that.”
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
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