The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Chang, Dabir top talented Mat tennis ladder

By MIKE BARNHART

Sophie Chang, No. 1 among under-16 singles and doubles players in the United States Tennis Association's Northern California girls rankings, is ranked No. 2 on Monta Vista's highly-regarded team. That is, when the top Matador--senior Vidya Dabir, No. 3 in the USTA's NorCal under-18 singles ratings--is not on a college recruiting trip.

When Dabir is missing from the line-up, as was the case twice last week, Chang steps into the No. 1 singles spot.

A 14-year-old sophomore, Chang won the top singles contests against Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division foes Saratoga and Los Gatos last week. Monta Vista topped Saratoga 6-1 on Sept. 28, in a challenging match that featured five contests that went three sets. The Matadors, who blanked Los Gatos 7-0 two days earlier, took a 5-0 De Anza record and a 10-0 overall mark into an Oct. 3 match against visiting Fremont.

Chang posted a pair of straight-set wins last week, including a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Saratoga's Valerie Tang in the Matadors' most recent match. She was coming off a fantastic performance in a USTA Level 3 event, Sept. 22-24 in Las Vegas.

Chang, seeded fourth in a star-studded field of 32, won five straight matches to claim the prestigious Mike Agassi "No Quit" Tournament. The tourney, founded by Andre Agassi's father, featured many of the finest 16-under players on the West Coast. Chang followed up a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 5 seed Julia Baltas of Las Vegas by outlasting No. 2 Anna Chkhikvishvili of San Diego. Five of the top eight seeds in the Agassi tourney were rated among the nation's top 100.

Chang and Dabir are the highest rated Matadors in the NorCal rankings, but certainly are not the only ranked athletes on coach Gene Fortino's talented roster.

Monta Vista seniors Taskeen Bains (No. 15) and Jennifer Chui (No. 17) are among the top 20 under-18 singles players in NorCal, while junior teammates Courtney Chin (No. 17), Tiffany Nguyen (No. 19) and Chau Nguyen (No. 63) are ranked high in under-16s.

The Matadors also have three talented freshmen that are ranked among the top 50 under-14 singles players in NorCal, but Melissa Kobayakawa (No. 8), Annalisa Choy (No. 16) and Tara Nguyen (No. 47) all play doubles for Monta Vista.

When at full strength, the Monta Vista line-up includes Dabir, Chang, Bains and Chui at the four singles positions. Chin and Ti. Nguyen usually combine to play No. 1 doubles, while Kobayakawa and C. Nguyen pair up at No. 2 and Choy and Ta. Nguyen team at No. 3. When a girl is absent for whatever reason, Fortino just moves players up the ladder and moves senior Stephanie Woo into a doubles position.