Lenaway happy with tennis team's play

This year’s Fallbrook High School girls’ tennis team completed the regular season with a 7-7 overall record and a 4-4 Valley League record, which gave the Warriors third place in the final five-team standings and the 14th seed in the CIF Division III playoffs.

“For the girls that we had and the season we had, I’m very proud of the way they played,” Fallbrook coach Bill Lenaway said. “We went from tied for last to third. I don’t think we won seven matches total in the last two years, so you’ve got to be happy with the season.”

In 2016 the Warriors lost all eight league matches and had an overall record of 2-13. Fallbrook’s 2017 overall record was 4-12, and the Warriors’ 1-7 league mark shared last place in the standings.

Although the 2017 team only had three seniors and one of those was a substitute, three of last year’s non-seniors chose not to return to the team for 2018. Imogen Isaac, who won the 2016 Valley League singles championship and lost in the 2017 final, did not play CIF tennis this year. One of the 2017 players opted to focus on club soccer, and another decided to focus on her academic duties.

“We had some players we thought we were going to have that we don’t have this year,” Lenaway said. “I’m really happy with the girls who came and played.”

Lenaway had 15 girls for the varsity and junior varsity squads, which allowed the necessary nine players for varsity matches. Some of those were on last year’s varsity, some played junior varsity in 2017, and the 2018 varsity included two ninth-grade students.

“We had a couple of freshman play for us,” Lenaway said.

Fallbrook began the second round of league play with a 14-4 loss Oct. 2 against Ramona High School on the Riviera Oaks courts in Ramona. The Warriors’ Oct. 4 match was an 11-7 home win over Escondido High School. San Pasqual High School traveled to the Fallbrook Tennis Club for an Oct. 9 match, and the 13-5 score was a loss for the Warriors but an improvement over the 17-1 result during the first round of league play Sept. 20 at San Pasqual. A 13-5 triumph Oct. 11 against Valley Center High School on the Adams Community Park courts in Valley Center concluded Fallbrook’s league and regular season.

San Pasqual won the Valley League championship with an 8-0 league record. Lenaway said that the absence of the expected returning players made defeating the Golden Eagles unlikely.

“If we had all those players it would have been a much closer match,” Lenaway said. “Same thing with Ramona.”

The Bulldogs posted a 6-2 record in league play. Because Ramona is in Division II for CIF team playoff purposes, the Bulldogs were not seeded high enough for a postseason berth despite their 9-7 overall record. San Pasqual, whose overall mark was 10-4, received the sixth seed in the Division II playoffs.

Escondido and Valley Center are in Division III. So are El Camino, Oceanside and Orange Glen high schools, all of whom lost to Fallbrook in non-league matches this year, so the Warriors posted a 7-0 record against other Division III teams during the regular season.

“We didn't lose to anybody in Division III that we played,” Lenaway said. “They’re similar to where we are.”

The win-loss record and the strength of schedule are factors in the power rankings which determine playoff seedings.

“There aren’t a whole lot of North County Division III teams, so I don’t know if we’re really 14th,” Lenaway said.

The top eight seeds have first-round home matches while the other eight seeds travel to their playoff competition, so for the ninth through 16th seeds the effect of the specific seed is the first-round opponent.

“I'm fine with 14,” Lenaway said. “If you’re going to win the whole thing you’ve got to beat them all.”