The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Matadors chasing another CCS tennis title

By MIKE BARNHART

If everything continues to roll along as coach Gene Fortino hopes, the Monta Vista girls tennis team certainly will be thankful for the Thanksgiving break when it rolls around next week.

"We'll have a lot of a matches in just a short amount of time," Fortino chuckled last week, after the top-seeded Matadors had rolled over their first two opponents in the Central Coast Section playoffs. "But our girls are used to it."

And they should be. The Matadors always are among the last teams left at the high school tennis party, which typically includes individual league finals, then the CCS and Northern California tournaments, followed by the CCS individual tourney. All of which can lead to cravings for turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce--well, a bit of rest and relaxation, anyway.

Monta Vista, after going 12-0 to win the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division crown, is seeking its third CCS title in four seasons. The Matadors, who followed a first-round bye with 7-0 victories over Los Gatos and Robert Louis Stevenson of Pebble Beach, were set to take on fifth seed Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton in a semifinal match on Nov. 13 at Courtside Tennis Club in Los Gatos. No. 3 Archbishop Mitty and No. 2 Menlo met in the other semi. The survivors advanced to the championship round, Nov. 15 at Courtside. Both CCS finalists will be among the 10 teams competing in the CIF Northern California Regional event, Nov. 17-18 at Fremont Tennis Center.

Fortino used the same line-up in both victories last week. Senior Vidya Dabir, sophomore Sophie Chang and seniors Taskeen Bains and Jennifer Chui handled the four singles assignments. Juniors Courtney Chin and Tiffany Nguyen teamed at No. 1 doubles. Junior Chau Nguyen was paired with freshman Melissa Kobayakawa at No. 2, and another pair of freshmen, Annalisa Choy and Tara Nguyen, handled No. 3.

Menlo beat Monta Vista in last year's CCS finale, 4-3, but the Matadors came back to beat the same line-up a few days later, 6-1, and capture the NorCal title. The Mats seem to have an edge this season, as they have beaten the Knights on three occasions, but they needed to get past Mitty and Sacred Heart first.

The Monarchs, who went 13-1 while winning the West Catholic Athletic League championship, beat Menlo-Atherton 6-1 and St. Ignatius 5-2 to reach the CCS final four. Sacred Heart dumped No. 4 seed Saratoga, 6-1, to reach the semifinals.

Mitty's top players, Taylor Davis and Kelly Chui, will be among the 16 athletes taking part in the CCS individual championships, Nov. 20-21, at Courtside. Davis, who lost a three-set match to Sacred Heart's Sam Rosekrans in last season's singles final, is the No. 1 seed. Rosekrans and teammate Haley Hemm are seeded No. 1 in the doubles field.

Among Davis' challengers will be Monta Vista's Chang, the No. 2 seed, who also lost to Rosekrans in the 2005 event. Other entries include No. 4 Arthi Padmanabhan of Harker, No. 6 K. Chui of Mitty and Leland teammates Roxy Pourmirzaie and Lydia Chow. Noticeable by her absence is Monta Vista's Dabir, who did compete in the SCVAL finals. She will be traveling on a family vacation during the CCS event.

In doubles, Bains and Chin of Monta Vista will try to defend their title from the No. 2 spot. Another Matador tandem, J. Chui and Tiffany Nguyen, is seeded fifth. Courtney Hull and Kate Bergeson of Los Gatos are No. 4 and Lynbrook's Sarah Rose and Angela Horng are slotted No. 8.