Carlmont girls' tennis takes down Aragon

That second point was driven home Thursday as the Scots faced a desperate Aragon team that is trying to cling to postseason hopes.

But the Dons will need to find some wins somewhere else because Carlmont made the drive to San Mateo and came away with a 5-2 victory to stay in sole possession of second place in the Bay Division standings.

The second-, third- and fourth-place teams in the Bay Division, along with the Ocean Division champ, qualify for the PAL team tournament that decides the league’s second automatic bid to the Central Coast Section tournament.

“I’m always up for Aragon,” said Carlmont head coach Margaret Goldsmith. “I’ve been watching [their] scores.”

While the Aragon four singles players made the Scots work, Carlmont had a much easier time in the three doubles matches, coming away with a sweep without losing a set.

The Scots’ No. 1 doubles team of Brooke Franasze and Lisa Borchelt set the tone, winning their match 6-0, 6-1 for Carlmont’s first point of the day.

The No. 2 tandem of Meiling Rowland and Saya Deshpande also lost only one game in a 6-0, 6-1 victory, while Mira Bhatt and Keya Arora’s 6-4, 6-0 win at No. 3 doubles gave Carlmont the sweep and was the match-clinching fourth point to improved the Scots to 6-1 in PAL Bay play.

“We need to work on doubles. It’s kind of late in the season to still be looking for the best combinations,” said Aragon head coach Dave Owdom. “[The players in those doubles spots] make a lot of unforced errors and we need to play better at the net.”

Aragon (3-4) had a much better showing in the four singles matches, winning at No. 1 and No. 2. Aragon sophomore Varsha Jawadi may be the second-best singles player in the league, behind M-A Ava Martin, but she had to work to top Carlmont senior Victoria Gittoes, who was playing just her second singles match in league play as she rounds back into playing form after a shoulder injury.

Gittoes is not the most talented player No. 1 singles player in the PAL, but she is a tenacious competitor and made Jawadi work for each point.

But Jawadi was simply too strong for Gittoes. Using a thumping forehand, Jawadi had Gittoes on the run and was driving her deep to the baseline, forcing the Carlmont player into defensive returns.

Jawadi opened the match by breaking serve which helped her bolt out to a 3-0 lead. The second set stayed on serve early, but Jawadi got a break in the fourth game to take control. She followed that by holding serve and breaking Gittoes again for a 5-2 advantage on her way to a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

“She put a lot of time into her game,” Owdom said of Jawadi, who is in the championship match of a U18 USTA tournament in Aptos that began last weekend and will wrap up this weekend.

Goldsmith was impressed with Jawadi’s stamina as much as her game.

“[Jawadi is] fantastic,” Goldsmith said. “She was full strength (on her shots) almost the entire match. It was impressive.”

Carlmont had freshmen at the No. 2 and No. 3 singles spots, with Ashwika Narayan earning a 6-2, 7-5 victory at third singles, while Chloe Khachadourian fell to Aragon’s Jessica Fu at No. 2 singles, 6-3, 6-4.

“The freshmen class that came in (this year) are pushing the older players,” Goldsmith said.

Carlmont’s Mallika Agrawal won 6-0, 6-2 at No. 4 singles to give the Scots’ a split of the four singles matches.

“Our singles have been strong and doubles are equally strong. Usually, it’s either or,” Goldsmith said. “We’re lucky.”