Saratoga News
Sports
Two doubles teams win but Falcons fall
By Mike Barnhart
Junior captain Lindsey Marsh and talented freshman Srinidhi Raghavan led Saratoga's young and talented girls tennis team into a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division showdown at Monta Vista last week.
With four wins in a row since losing to Monta Vista three weeks earlier, the Falcons had improved their division record to 5-1. They were bidding knock off the unbeaten Matadors and join the perennial Central Coast Section power in first place.
The Matadors, winners of the last four Northern California championships and three of the previous four CCS titles, had scored a 5-2 victory at Saratoga on Sept. 13.
"It was a tough match the first time around and it will be tough again," predicted Monta Vista coach Gene Fortino prior to the teams' second clash of the season Oct. 4.
And the veteran coach was right.
Sparked by sophomore Mika Padmanabhan's triumph at No. 3 singles and wins in two doubles contests, Saratoga and Monta Vista were tied 3-3 with just one match left in progress. As play finished up on the six other courts, all eyes focused on the No. 2 singles match between Marsh and Monta Vista senior Courtney Chin.
After Chin won a pulsating first set 7-6 with a 7-3 tiebreaker, Marsh kept the match alive with a 6-2 victory in the second set. Chin fought back to capture the decisive set 6-3, handing the Falcons their second De Anza loss and dropping them to 8-4 overall.
"It was very exciting, a real nailbiter," Fortino said, praising the play of Chin, Marsh and both teams. "Saratoga has such great, young players. Along with us and Mitty, Saratoga is one of the top three teams in the CCS."
Several players on both teams were among the top-rated juniors when the Northern California Tennis Association released its monthly rankings earlier in the day.
Earlier in the week, Monta Vista had scored a 4-3, non-league victory over Archbishop Mitty and a 5-2 win over division opponent Los Altos. The Matadors escaped the week with a 7-0 division record and an 11-1 overall mark.
The Falcons, who had beaten Gunn 7-0 two days earlier, captured two of the three doubles matches at Monta Vista, but picked up just one win in singles play.
Sophomore Annie Lee and freshman Catherine Nguyen claimed a 6-2, 6-2 victory for Saratoga in the No. 1 doubles match. They topped Monta Vista's talented freshman tandem of Sylvia Li and Vynnie Kong.
Shireen Gupta, the lone senior on coach Tom Uyehara's squad, and sophomore Samantha Tsang lost the first set to Matadors Iliana Nguyen and Nickie Ding, but recovered to win at No. 3 doubles 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.
Padmanabhan, No. 28 in the NCTA's 16 singles rankings, defeated Monta Vista senior Tiffany Nguyen 6-4, 6-1 in the No. 3 singles match.
Meanwhile, reigning CCS singles champion Sophie Chang won the No. 1 singles match, beating Raghavan 6-1, 6-3. For Raghavan, ranked No. 2 by NCTA in 14-year-old singles, it was the first time she lost at No. 1. Chang, a junior, currently ranks fifth in NorCal 18 singles and second in doubles.
Saratoga junior Kara Wang, who had a fine freshman season but did not play as a sophomore, lost a 6-3, 6-4 decision at No. 4 singles against sophomore Melissa Kobayakawa.
Monta Vista also won at No. 2 doubles. Senior Chau Nguyen and sophomore Tara Nguyen beat Saratoga junior Nikki Behmaram and freshman Mary Edman 6-3, 6-2.
In Saratoga's 7-0 win over Gunn on Oct. 2, Raghavan was a 6-0, 6-2 winner in the featured singles match, while Lee and C. Nguyen breezed 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 doubles.
Saratoga swept the singles matches in a 5-2 victory at Los Gatos, Sept. 27. Raghavan beat Cassie Bergeson 6-3, 6-2 at No.1. Wang won all but one game at No. 2, while Marsh and Nguyen both won 6-0, 6-0, at three and four singles.
In doubles, Tsang and sophomore Carolyn Chen earned a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 3 for the Falcons.
After playing at Homestead and Lynbrook (Oct. 11) this week, Saratoga will host Los Gatos in a rematch on Oct. 18, 3:30 p.m. Later, the Falcons will play at Gunn on Oct. 23.
