SEAL BEACH – The four University doubles players came together in a circle beside the court. Danielle Pham and Celine Gruaz sat on a bench as Yuki Asami knelt beside them and Kyla Scott stood in front.
They entered Seal Beach Tennis Center on Thursday excited about the potential for an all-University doubles final. More than two hours later, both teams lost as semifinalists, and consoled each other after Pham and Asami were eliminated last.
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Hot Shots Overtime: CIF doubles semifinals
Eventually, they walked off the court with an “all or nothing” attitude and the idea that University lost as a team, but they also acknowledged their disappointment in not reaching the final.
Either team would have been the first from University to reach a girls tennis individual final, but Gruaz and Scott lost to Sara Khattab and Risa Nakagawa from Peninsula of Rolling Hills Estates and Pham and Asami fell to Michie Aubuchon and Guilia McDonnell from Brentwood of Los Angeles.
No Orange County players reached a final, as the lone singles semifinalist. Capistrano Valley junior Katie Ta lost to Peninsula’s Annika Ringblom in straight sets.
Pham and Asami let a 4-0 lead slip away in the first set and fell, 7-6, in a tiebreaker, then battled back to win the second set against Aubuchon and McDonnell.
“We really thought we could do it,” Asami said.
But their momentum didn’t last in the third set, a 6-3 loss.
Ta got off to a slow start against Ringblom, a senior committed to Harvard, dropping the first set quickly as she struggled to find the game that allowed her to dominate Wednesday’s rounds.
She began to compete better in the second set, winning the first game and nearly breaking Ringblom’s serve twice. But too many errors came back to haunt her.
“I just couldn’t get a rhythm,” Ta said. “I was so frustrated.”
Contact the writer: mcooper@ocregister.com
