CLAREMONT – It didn’t end the way they would have liked, but the Magnolia girls tennis team made history Friday at the Claremont Club.
Thacher of Ojai cruised to a 13-5 victory in the CIF-SS Division 5 final against a Magnolia team making its first finals appearance, but a young star emerged for the Sentinels in freshman Tiffany Vo.
Vo, playing No. 3 singles for Magnolia, beat Thacher’s Sydney De Polo, 6-2, and Kelly Oh, 6-3.
Vo dropped her final set, 6-3, to Thacher’s No. 1 player, Libby Kern.
Kern had won her first two matches, 6-0 and 6-0, before being challenged by the Sentinels freshman.
“I am really sad we lost, but to be a part of the first team to make it to the finals in school history and win a couple matches as a freshman was a great experience,” Vo said. “I don’t think I played my best set until the final match, but she (Kern) is really good.”
Magnolia senior Nicky Tran also won two matches, as she beat De Polo, 6-4, and Cara Dienst, 6-2.
Magnolia’s No. 2, Laarni Catolico, went 1-2; she beat Dienst, 6-1.
The Sentinels went 5-4 in singles matches, but Thacher essentially won the championship by winning all nine doubles matches, including four by a 6-0 score.
