Saratoga News
Sports
Chang tops Davis to take CCS singles title
By Mike Barnhart
Something had to give in the singles final at the Central Coast Section girls tennis championships. After all, the tournament's top two contenders--sophomores Taylor Davis of Archbishop Mitty and Sophie Chang of Monta Vista--finally were set to square off, after breezing through the first three rounds without losing a set.
But there was no give in Chang, who captured the first seven points of the match and stayed aggressive throughout her 6-2, 6-2 triumph. Davis, who won the first set of the title match last year before bowing to Sam Rosekrans of Sacred Heart Prep, managed to win just one of the first six games in this year's finale. Chang, who also lost to Rosekrans in the 2005 tourney and finished fourth, seldom dropped a game in this year's affair, held Nov. 20-21 at the Courtside Tennis Club in Los Gatos.
Chang, the No. 2 seed after winning the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League crown, wasted little time during the 16-player event. She whipped Alexia Pressas of Notre Dame-Salinas 6-0, 6-0, and Anna Guzman of Leigh 6-1, 6-0 to reach the semifinals. There, she defeated No. 6 seed Kelly Chui of Mitty 6-0, 6-3.
Davis, a two-time West Catholic Athletic League champion and the top seed in this tourney, dropped just four games against Saratoga's Allison Daniel and Leland's Roxy Pourmirzaie, before No. 5 Katie Le of Milpitas put up a bit of tussle (6-1, 7-6) in the semifinal round.
Mitty's Chui, who lost the third-place match to Milpitas' Le, had reached the semifinal round by winning a tough three-set match from Harker's Arthi Padmanabhan, the No. 4 seed. Chui lost the first set 6-4 before rallying to capture the next two sets, 6-1 and 6-3. Le also needed three sets to win her quarterfinal match, a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 decision over No. 3 Bobbie Englert of St. Francis.
Two of Chang's teammates, senior Taskeen Bains and junior Courtney Chin, earned an opportunity to repeat as CCS doubles champions. Bains and Chin, seeded No. 2, turned back three other tandems in straight sets to reach the finals opposite Sacred Heart's Rosekrans and Haley Hemm. The Sacred Heart duo lived up to its No. 1 seed, though, unseating the defending champs 6-2, 6-2.
To reach the finale, the Rosekrans-Hemm unit first had to get past another Monta Vista combo--senior Jennifer Chui and junior Tiffany Nguyen--in the semifinals 6-2, 6-2. In the quarterfinals, Rosekrans and Hemm won 6-2, 6-1 against Lynbrook's Sarah Rose Cappello and Angela Horng, the No. 8 seed.
Chui and Nguyen, the No. 5 seed, had to work overtime to get out of the quarterfinals. Up against No. 3 Sarah Hoffman and Jennifer Goldman of Menlo, the Matadors lost the first set without winning a game, but took the second set 6-4. Chui and Nguyen claimed the decisive set 7-6, thanks to an 8-6 victory in the tiebreaker.
Chui and Nguyen placed fourth in the event.
