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The girls tennis team at Monta Vista had put together a very impressive win streak that stretched to 71 matches. The Matadors had won back-to-back championships in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, the Central Coast Section and Northern California.
Monta Vista was, without a doubt, the reigning champion of girls tennis in the area.
Saratoga, it seems, wasn't impressed.
The Falcons, led by newcomers Kelly Lamble, Lindsey Marsh and Kara Wang, snapped that streak like a twig in a non-league match. Then the young Saratoga squad backed that up by blanking Wilcox and Los Gatos by matching 7-0 scores. The Falcons have also beaten Palo Alto in league play.
The result has been a 3-0 league start and a 10-0 season start for the Falcons who must be just too young too know that's not how Monta Vista is treated.
Monta Vista coach Gene Fortino understands, and he knows that the Falcons are force to be reckoned with the De Anza play this fall. Fortino knows that Saratoga has "three great freshmen" in Lamble, Marsh and Wang, and he's anxious to get his top players--junior Vidya Dabir and senior Gungeet Bains--back in the line-up when the teams meet again on Sept. 29, 3:30 p.m., at Saratoga.
Fortino expects his Matadors to contend for the division and CCS title again this season, and he figures the stiffest competition for the section crown to come from Saratoga, Menlo School, Archbishop Mitty and Sacred Heart.
Lamble cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 1 singles to start the Falcons on the road to victory in the 7-0 blanking at Los Gatos last week. Wang moved into the No. 1 slot later in the week in the 7-0 win over Wilcox.
Mike Barnhart contributed to this story.
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Photograph by Patricia Garrovillo