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Warriors reach second round of CIF team tennis tournament

Fallbrook High School's girls tennis team advanced to the second round of the CIF Division III team tournament.

The Warriors opened team postseason play Oct. 29 at Montgomery and defeated the Aztecs to advance to the quarterfinals. Otay Ranch eliminated Fallbrook as part of the Mustangs' path to the Division III championship match.

"I'm always happy to win a match," said Fallbrook coach Bill Lenaway.

Most CIF team sports utilize power rankings which involve win-loss records and strength of schedule to determine playoff selection and seeding. Tennis had used power rankings before this year but, since most nonleague matches are in the same part of the county, comparisons were difficult and many seedings did not reflect the actual team tournament results.

This year tennis adopted cumulative universal tennis rating statistics based on the UTR of each player.

The use of UTR numbers will be evaluated during the offseason, since an individual or doubles team which only plays three of the 18 sets in a dual match can have a significant impact on the team UTR. "That one player can make your UTR jump up a lot," Lenaway said.

Montgomery senior Daniela Gama Marroquin has a UTR of 6. The highest-rated Fallbrook player, sophomore Alexa Guadarrama, has a UTR of 4. Two Warriors, senior Nicole Dulin and freshman Nina Del-Zio, have a UTR of 3. None of the other Fallbrook players have a UTR higher than 2.

Fallbrook was seeded ninth in the playoffs. Montgomery was seeded eighth, so the Warriors began the playoffs with a road match in South San Diego.

"They were seeded ahead of us because they had one really good player," Lenaway said. "We had better depth than them."

Gama Marroquin won all three of her singles sets, but Fallbrook players won all the other sets in the Warriors' 15-3 victory. Guadarrama, who lost a 6-1 set to Marroquin, defeated her other two Montgomery opponents by 6-0 margins.

Dulin won 6-2 and 6-1 sets while sophomore Carly Hawkins, who has a UTR of 2, won a 6-0 set and a 6-2 set against sophomore Stephanie Pedroza, who has a UTR of 3.

Del-Zio partnered with junior Vronnie Serrano to win three doubles sets, including a 6-0 contest. The Fallbrook tandem of senior Gabby Bulli and sophomore Elizabeth Eastom also won three sets.

Lenaway utilized a substitute after the Warriors had clinched the victory so junior Luci Bolduc and freshman Reid Biland only won two sets, including one by a 6-0 margin, while Bolduc and freshman Sam Hanlon won the other set.

The win over the Aztecs gave Fallbrook an Oct. 30 quarterfinal match at top-seeded Otay Ranch. The Mustangs were on the preferred end of the 13-5 final score. "They were solid," Lenaway said. "They had a better team than we did. We got some sets off them, but they were just better."

Fallbrook's five sets won against Otay Ranch were one more than fifth-seeded Rancho Buena Vista obtained against the Mustangs in the 14-4 semifinal. Otay Ranch and second-seeded Olympian each won nine sets in the final with Olympian being given the match and CIF championship based on the tiebreaking criteria of games won.

"I think Otay Ranch deserved their seeding and they played up to it," Lenaway said.

The playoff win and loss gave Fallbrook a final season record of 7-10 including a 4-4 mark in Valley League competition which placed the Warriors third in the standings.

The CIF has an individual tournament as well as a team tournament. Entry into the individual tournament is based on performance in the league tournaments, and the Valley League sent five singles players and five doubles tandems to the CIF tournament.

Guadarrama was third in the league singles tournament Oct. 21-24 at San Pasqual High School; Dulin lost her quarterfinal match but won two backdraw matches for fifth place and the final CIF berth, and Bulli and Eastom won two backdraw matches for fifth place in the doubles portion.

The CIF individual tournament was held Nov. 11-15 on the Morley Field courts in San Diego. The first two rounds of singles play took place Nov. 11, although neither Fallbrook singles player advanced to the second round. Dulin had a first-round match against San Marcos High School freshman Dana Wei, who has a UTR of 7. Wei won two 6-0 sets against Dulin.

"She got a tough draw," Lenaway said of Dulin. "She drew a very good player."

Dulin had not previously competed in the CIF tournament but was able to close out her high school career at Morley Field. "I was glad Nicole got here," Lenaway said.

Poway senior Kayla Nguyen, whose UTR is 5, was Guadarrama's first-round opponent. "I think Alexa was very nervous," Lenaway said.

Nguyen won 6-1 and 7-5 sets. "I think she learned a lot from the match," Lenaway said of Guadarrama.

Lenaway explained that Guadarrama needed to play her own game and not let the opponent dictate the tempo and other elements of the match.

"I'm hoping in the offseason she gets out and plays some matches," Lenaway said of Guadarrama.

Santa Fe Christian junior Bella Raiszadeh had a UTR of 3 and freshman Natalia Raiszadeh has a UTR of 2. They faced Bulli and Eastom in the first round of the CIF doubles tournament Nov. 12 and took a 3-0 lead in the first set. Bulli and Eastom narrowed their deficit to 4-3 before the Raiszadeh sisters won the final two games for a 6-3 victory in the first set. A 6-2 triumph in the second set advanced the Raiszadeh sisters to the next round and ended Fallbrook's season.

"I'm never happy to lose, but at the same time I think they did a good job hanging in the match," Lenaway said. "It's always good to see kids fight back when they get down."

The CIF tournament was the first for both Fallbrook doubles players. "It's like a very different level of play," Bulli said.

"It was fun making it this far, and I'm glad that I was Gabby's partner," Eastom said.

"I'm happy we made it this far," Bulli said.

Dulin brought Bulli onto the Warriors' tennis team. "It was a fun experience, and I'm glad my friend encouraged me to play," Bulli said.

Although Bulli and Dulin are seniors, Guadarrama and Eastom will take their CIF tournament experience into the 2020 season. "It helps," Lenaway said.

Bulli and Dulin were the only seniors on this year's team. Bolduc and Serrano were the only juniors. "I think we have a good core of kids coming back," Lenaway said.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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