Mills beats Aragon in tennis showdown

After a 5-2 win over Aragon Thursday, the Vikings find themselves in a familiar position - second place, behind Menlo School.

"Initially with the loss of Natalie (Rozenblum) and Jen (Fung) at one and two (singles), plus the loss of other seniors, I thought there might be some drop off," Selig said. "But we won our first three matches and they impressed me. They've really come a long way."

Aragon won its first 10 matches of the season. But after Thursday's match - the Dons third in three days - Aragon finds itself in third place in the Bay.

"Reality set in," said Aragon coach Ed Schuler after the Dons lost to Burlingame on Tuesday, Menlo on Wednesday and Mills on Thursday.

"[The Dons] weren't down at all," Schuler continued. "They felt good taking two matches against Menlo (Wednesday). Playing three matches, in the heat, might have taken something out of them physically."

Aragon (6-4 Bay Division, 10-4 overall) beat Mills (7-3, 11-3) in the first round of the Bay season but lineup changes made the Vikings stronger for the second round of league play. The biggest changes came in the doubles slots. Selig took his No. 4 singles player from the first round, Andrea Ng, and paired her with Elizabeth Chang at No.1 doubles. That move paid off with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Stephanie Yuen and Courtney Fong.

"Last time (we played), we lost all three doubles matches," Selig said.

The other two changes at doubles, even though the Dons won both matches, made the entire Mills lineup stronger.

"[Selig] made some lineup changes that made his team stronger," Schuler said. "His No. 1 doubles team played tough today. We didn't play very well at No. 1 (doubles)."

The other big change for the Vikings came at No. 4 singles. Freshman Christine Lewis played on the frosh-soph team for the first half of the season before being brought up. She gutted out a tough, three-set victory over Kelly Jin, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3. It was only her fourth match at the varsity level.

"She's really coming along," Selig said. "It's only her fourth match and she's getting better and better."

Mills made sure that the match did not come down to the final match of the day, as it did the first time the two teams played. Mills' No. 1 and No. 2 singles players, Stephanie Luk and Huette Wong, won impressively in straight sets to set the tone. Ng and Chang's win at No. 1 doubles gave Mills a 3-1 advantage and No. 3 singles player, freshman Jasmine Dong, closed out the win for the Vikings by winning a tough 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 win over Tori Lei.

Aragon's No. 2 doubles team of Kelly Pauly and Miho Watanabe won 6-4, 6-4 and the No. 3 tandem of Melissa Yuen and Acacia Woods-Chan also won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2 to improve to 13-1 on the season.

There was no revenge factor Thursday, Selig said. He told his team the match with Aragon would go along way toward deciding the league's playoff picture. The Bay Division championship and automatic berth to the Central Coast Section tournament has already been conceded to Menlo School, but the next three Bay Division teams and the Ocean Division champion play a tournament to determine the PAL's second CCS berth. A second place finish would give Mills a first-round playoff match against the Ocean Division champ.

Despite three losses in row, Schuler said his team has remained upbeat. He only dwells on what might have been. Since the courts at Aragon have been taken over by portables during school construction, the tennis team gets limited practice time at Beresford Park and the San Mateo Elks' Club.

"The biggest thing that hurts (is a lack of practice time)," Schuler said. "I just like to think what we would be if we had more practice time.

"But when you start out 10-0, you have to feel good."