From the sports archives: Menlo School girls win Central Coast Section tennis title

“A lot of teams have the ‘wow’ factor — we have the ‘Yao’ factor,” Shine said.

The ‘Yao’ factor is composed of Menlo’s top two singles players, sisters Liz and Alice Yao, who led the Knights to their eighth all-time CCS title with a 5-2 win over St. Francis on a picturesque Tuesday afternoon at Bay Club Courtside in Los Gatos.

After No. 5-seed Menlo took a commanding lead by winning its first three matches of the day, senior Liz Yao, the older of the sisters, clinched the upset over No. 3 St. Francis by putting away Lancers freshman Cate Liston 6-3, 6-4.

Liston actually resides in Menlo Park. A lifer on the tennis court, she has known Shine since she began attending his drop-in tennis clinics when she was 8. She currently receives private tennis instruction from Sacred Heart Prep boys’ tennis coach Jeff Arons. This season, she started as St. Francis’ No. 2 single, but moved up to No. 1 by the start of West Catholic Athletic League play.

The more experienced Liz Yao — playing in her fourth CCS postseason and her second championship match in as many years — took command from the outset though, working the backline with her calm and fluid style which has become a cornerstone of the Menlo team.

And she could sense the team victory was riding on her outcome, even though no one specifically communicated the score to her while she was playing.

“I could kind of tell by the crowd,” Liz Yao said. “And I could tell by the faces of the people as they come off (their courts) how their matches went.”

Many of her teammates, including her younger sister, gathered at the Bay Club’s showcase court as Liz Yao was busy storming back from a 4-2 deficit in the second game. Part moral support, part stone-cold determination, she rallied to win four straight, including the final game in which she shut out a visibly frustrated Liston.

“I could feel her getting frustrated,” Liz Yao said. “So, other than just hit the ball solidly and not try to go for too much, I just waited until I had an opportunity.”

Liz Yao got her opportunity by forcing match point with a beautiful lob towards the sideline, which Liston was able to chase down. The freshman returned a volley right to Liz Yao, who exploited the wide-open far side to go up 40-0. On the final rally of the match, Liston committed a hitting error to end it.

“I made my first serve in, she hit it back and I hit it back again very normally,” Liz Yao said. “But I think it was just a little bit of frustration and she tried to go for it a little too much and it went out.”

Preceding Liz Yao’s victory were Menlo wins on two of the other top-ranked courts. No. 2 single Alice Yao scored the swiftest victory of the day with a 6-1, 6-2 win over senior Amy Burke.

Alice Yao, a sophomore, has a polar opposite demeanor on the court as her sister. Fiery, emotional and constantly shouting words of encouragement, not just to her teammates on neighboring courts, but to herself, the younger Yao walks it like she talks it with her aggressive pace of play.

“Usually I’m the first one off (the courts),” Alice Yao said. “I really like playing aggressively. So, the way I play really moves the match along.”

Menlo No. 1 doubles Sadie Bronk and Mia McConnell wrapped up the team’s second win of the afternoon soon thereafter with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Christine McCarthy and Jordan Barrett. Bronk and McConnell — Menlo’s team captains — led a clean sweep through doubles play for the Knights.

Bronk and McConnell’s first order of business after their win was to dispatch to the No. 1 court to watch the decisive victory. And they were the first ones to rush the court to maul Liz Yao with celebratory hugs.

Likewise, the first thing Liz Yao did after her win was rush to watch her teammates who were still playing. The No. 4 singles match had just concluded with St. Francis senior Illina Yang defeating freshman Elika Esnghi 6-2, 6-1. But Liz Yao caught the conclusion of the No. 3 singles match as St. Francis junior Priyanka Pabari defeated sophomore Georgia Anderson 6-4, 3-6 (10-7).

Then Liz Yao and the rest of the Menlo squad hurried to enjoy the No. 2 and 3 doubles teams notch the doubles sweep.

Shine credits Liz Yao as being one of the players who holds the team together.

“She’s a classy gal and she’s just so nice to her teammates,” Shine said. “And they feed off her. I tell her: ‘I’m only as good a coach as my No. 1 player, because you’re my right arm. They’re going to look at you and they hear everything you’re saying — they’re going to believe it.’ So, she just gets the girls ready and makes them believe in themselves.”

Menlo concluded the day with a win from sophomore No. 3 doubles Kaitlin Hao and Alex Edidin, who defeated Vrinda Vasavada and Vandana Reddy 6-1, 6-1. The final victory of the day was Menlo No. 2 doubles Melissa Tran and Schuyler Tilney-Volk, who edged Andie Hamm and Jasmine Wong 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

“This is really special being the 5-seed. They were really determined to prove everybody wrong,” Shine said. “They thought they should have been a higher seed, which they should have been. It is what it is. It’s what you do about it; and they came out and just wanted to prove everybody wrong and they did it.”

Menlo’s doubles coach, fourth-year assistant Kevin Conner, was overcome with joy as the Knights claimed their first title since 2005. For Conner, the match was doubly sweet as he is a graduate of St. Francis.

Next up for Menlo is the California Interscholastic Federation Northern California playoffs, beginning Friday at Sacramento’s Natomas Racquet Club at 1 p.m. CCS individual playoffs begin next Monday with Liz Yao slated to play singles and Alice Yao and Caitlin Wilson playing doubles.