Sea Kings Go Deep For Tourney Win
• The Palos Verdes High School girls’ tennis team wins the Point Loma Tennis Invitational.
The PV High girls’ varsity tennis team did it again – winning their second statewide tournament in a row, the first annual Point Loma Tennis Invitational.
Earlier this month, the team dominated at the California Classic in Palo Alto, but were the underdogs in the Point Loma tournament.
The PV girls had to battle through several tough teams – nudging the seeded Canyon Crest High School out of the finals in a 10-point deciding match tiebreaker between the #2 doubles teams.
Ultimately, sophomores Chloe Blakey and Mia Dellovade clinched it for the PV team in a win over Canyon Crest’s junior Emily Fowler and senior Lily Lin to get to the finals.
The finals was a hotly contested battle with top-ranked Campbell Hall. Palos Verdes knew they had to win all of the doubles matches to have a chance against Campbell Hall’s strong singles lineup.
Coach Kip Brady was confident, saying “Palos Verdes’ strength is not only in our individual players but also our depth.”
Captain Madison Olsen and freshman Cara Hung pulled out a win in #1 doubles in a 10-point tiebreaker set against seniors Patria Aziz and Aliya Allyn.
Chloe Blakey and Mia Dellovade won quickly in #2 doubles over Campbell Hall’s senior Lisa Wagner and sophomore Devyn Hunter. Junior Mari Shigekawa and sophomore Ripley Uyeda were clutch against their #3 doubles team of freshman Allysa Bojenkova and senior Samantha Zwillinger.
This allowed the singles players to try to get one win for the team victory. Sophomore Katelyn Hart fought hard, but was defeated by senior Dominique Stone. Sophomore Caroline Tenney took the first set, but was ultimately beaten by sophomore Devyn Marinos in the third set tiebreak.
It came down to the last match in #2 singles between PV’s undefeated sophomore Parker Fry and senior Rachel Wagner. After a dramatic 15 minute delay when Wagner refused to accept a call to tie the second set at 6-6, Fry quickly won the match in the second set tiebreaker.
With that win, the PV team and the Peninsula High School girls team (who stayed hours after their last match to support Palos Verdes) rushed onto the court to congratulate Parker, shouting “One hill!”
What a bonding moment for the two South Bay rivals who will be meeting later this week in their first in-season battle.
— email reports
