Mateo tennis wins fourth straight

While Jeong is in his first year heading up the program at San Mateo, he brings plenty of coaching experience. The Bearcats gig marks his third current head coaching position. In the spring, he also serves as head coach for the Cañada College women’s team and the co-ed team at his alma mater Mid-Peninsula.

“This year I was lucky to inherit a deep, deep squad,” Jeong said. “And I have a lot of freshmen … that came and tried out for the team.”

San Mateo had seven freshmen try out. Four of them made the squad. Two of them were in the lineup Tuesday, with No. 4 single Kelli Eng defeating El Camino senior Kelly Fong 6-0, 6-1. At No. 1 doubles, San Mateo senior Lian Ting and freshman Jully Huang defeated EC seniors Jessica Li and Heather Oakes 6-0, 6-0.

Ting and Huang have partnered for four straight matches. The senior-freshman combo has won all four.

“I’m very happy with them,” Jeong said. “They’re gelling pretty well and bring a lot of energy to the court.”

The tandem has big shoes to fill at No. 1 doubles, a prestigious lineup spot in the Bearcats ranks after the great team of Emily Chan and Lauren Young who, two years ago, ran the table for an undefeated slate in league play. As a sophomore, Ting played on the same team with Chan and Young, and is now trying to pick up the mantle.

“It was really amazing,” Ting said. “They taught us a lot. So I’m hoping I can be a good leader to the young players this year — like Jully (Huang).”

Huang said she entered the season not knowing what to expect. It hasn’t taken her long to get her act down, though, and that goes for off the court as well as on. Following her team’s quick win Tuesday, the freshman scored some serious style points, donning what has got to be hands down the coolest flannel the Peninsula Athletic League will see this season (your move, PAL fashionistas), a three-toned eye-catcher she imported all the way from China.

Huang has had no problem scoring points on the court as well. She and Ting have also earned sweeps against Half Moon Bay and Mercy-SF, the latter seeing the entire San Mateo team drop just one game. The other six matches, including No. 1 doubles, were settled 6-0, 6-0.

“It’s definitely harder because we’re playing against a lot of seniors,” Huang said. “But it’s fun overall.”

Tuesday’s match had a bit of drama on the No. 1 singles court with San Mateo sophomore Sarah Fung-Smith squaring off against El Camino sophomore Raiselle Kyaw. The two have a bit of history, having attended the same tennis clinic at San Mateo High School four years ago. After that, they played twice competitively, splitting those two matches prior to Tuesday’s showdown.

Fung-Smith soldiered through a hard fall in the second set to win 6-1, 7-5. The sophomore was defending the backline, and a 3-2 lead in the set, when her feet slid out from underneath her and she hit the ground hard, scraping her racquet hand in the process. She dropped the next two games but rallied back, showing some emotion in the process, to win it.

The loss for Kyaw had a historic context to it, as it was the sophomore’s first-ever loss in PAL play. Spanning back to the start of her freshman season in 2017, she won 16 straight league matches.

“I was really nervous,” Kyaw said. “And then as I kept going, I got more nervous because I wanted to keep my record going.”

El Camino has had a flair for the historic this season though. Due to a history of dilapidated tennis courts, the Lady Colts, long known as the traveling band of the PAL, hadn’t played a home match on their campus since 1996 — until this season.

For the previous 20 years, the Colts called crosstown Orange Memorial Park their home. Having their home courts resurfaced in the offseason, though, EC returned home for the first time this century.

“It was more of the anxiety of when we’re going to get on these courts,” El Camino head coach Jaime Pagmanua said, “because we were always the traveling tennis team.”

Pagmanua — in his 10th year coaching at his alma mater EC — fielded a majority senior lineup Tuesday.

At No. 2 singles, San Mateo junior Grace Wang defeated Sophia Clemente 6-1, 6-3; San Mateo No. 3 junior Megan Stretch — a transfer from Germany — defeated EC sophomore JoAnn Lee 6-1, 6-0; San Mateo No. 2 doubles junior Jeevika Adda and junior Hannah Battat defeated EC seniors Nicole Woo and Maria Mar 6-1, 6-0; and San Mateo No. doubles senior Mahak Bindal and junior Amy Wong defeated EC junior Amy Yip and senior Bella Leggero 6-1, 6-4.