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Homuth defeats Guadarrama in league tennis final

Palmerin also reaches semifinals

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The singles semifinals of the Oct. 18-20 Valley League tennis tournament had three Fallbrook players.

League champion Leyla Homuth had to defeat teammates in the final two rounds of the tournament played at San Pasqual High School. The freshman defeated senior Alexa Guadarrama in the championship match after Homuth won her semifinal match against sophomore Angie Palmerin.

"I'm proud of all of them. They did a great job," said Fallbrook coach Bill Lenaway.

Each school was allowed up to four singles players and up to four doubles tandems in the league tournament, although Fallbrook had only three singles players and three doubles teams including freshmen Grace Ahrend and Olivia Searle, who defaulted their first-round match against Valley Center junior Chantal Fradet and sophomore Kacey Talton. The Fallbrook doubles team of senior Carly Hawkins and junior Samantha Hanlon received a first-round bye, so the only Fallbrook players with a first-round match were juniors Tracy Lopez and Erin Rowan.

Lopez and Rowan began play Oct. 18 against Escondido juniors Leslie Avila Malfavon and Michelle Mitchell. Lopez and Rowan won the first set by a 7-5 score. The second set was tied at six games apiece, triggering a tiebreaking game to seven points, and Lopez and Rowan won the 7-0 tiebreaker. That placed Lopez and Rowan into the Oct. 19 round of 16 match against Valley Center juniors Iris Diaz and Sabrina Price, who won 6-1 and 6-0 sets.

As sophomores, Lopez and Rowan lost their first-round match, albeit to a duo who finished fifth in the league tournament and thus qualified for the CIF tournament. Lenaway noted that Lopez and Rowan will benefit from playing two matches in this year's league tournament. "It was good for them," Lenaway said. "They need the experience. They need time on court."

Hawkins and Hanlon faced senior Claudia Farrell and junior Erika Sourinphoumy of San Pasqual in the Oct. 19 round of 16 match. Farrell and Sourinphoumy began the match with a 6-4 win in the first set. Hawkins and Hanlon countered with a 6-3 victory in the second set. The tiebreaking game to 10 points ended with the 10-5 score in favor of Farrell and Sourinphoumy.

All three Fallbrook singles players had first-round byes and began play in the round of 16 Oct. 18. Palmerin's 6-0, 6-2 victory over Ramona freshman Katie Dusseault gave her a quarterfinals match Oct. 19 against San Pasqual junior Sophie Torello. A 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Torello placed Palmerin in the semifinal against Homuth.

Guadarrama won 6-0, 6-0 matches against Ramona sophomore Isabel Wilson in the round of 16 and against San Pasqual junior Anastasia Evans in the quarterfinals.

Homuth's round of 16 match against San Pasqual senior Audri Wolfe was a 6-1, 6-0 victory. She faced Mission Hills senior Kristen Weiss in the quarterfinals and swept a pair of 6-0 sets.

The semi finals were played Oct. 19. "It was kind of difficult. I had to go against my teammate," Palmerin said.

Homuth defeated Palmerin in 7-5 and 6-0 sets to advance to the final. "It was a very good match," Palmerin said. "Even if it's my teammate, I always try my hardest and just hope for the best."

Guadarrama had a semifinals match against Mission Hills junior Amanyi Gibbs and reached the final with a 6-1, 6-3 victory. "I had fun playing her. She's a really good player," Guadarrama said. "I feel like we both had really good rallies."

Palmerin played Gibbs in the Oct. 20 match for third and fourth place. Gibbs won the 6-4 first set. A 6-4 Palmerin victory in the second set forced a tiebreaking game to ten points. Gibbs' 10-7 victory in the tiebreaker gave her third place and Palmerin fourth.

"It was a very close match," Palmerin said.

In the previous season's league tournament, Guadarrama and Palmerin played each other in the semifinals; the two split sets before Guadarrama won the 10-7 tiebreaking game. Palmerin lost the third-place match to 2021 Valley Center graduate Rania Price.

The championship match was played Oct. 20. "It was hard because I had to play one of my teammates," Homuth said. "I thought of it as kind of a practice match, but then I got a trophy at the end."

Homuth won the championship with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Guadarrama. "Leyla's a really good player, and it was really fun playing against her," Guadarrama said.

Guadarrama, who won the league championship as a junior, thus reached the final as a senior as well. "I was bummed that I lost, but I feel like I did good," she said.

"I was very proud of Leyla winning the tournament. She did a very good job," Lenaway said. "Any time a freshman's the best player in the league, that's pretty impressive."

Homuth became the first freshman to win the Valley League singles championship since Ramona's Julia Failla in 2017.

"We're just happy to have her on the team," Lenaway said.

Each league is allowed to send five singles players and five doubles teams to the CIF tournament. All semifinalists qualified for the CIF tournament, and a backdraw with the quarterfinals losers determined the fifth-place singles and doubles players who would continue their season at the CIF competition.

"Not only did we qualify three girls. Two of them don't graduate for another couple of years," Lenaway said.

 

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