CLAREMONT – After three hours of back and forth play, Valencia and Pasadena Poly were deadlocked, 8-8, with 16 sets officially in the books.
With the CIF title on the line, all eyes immediately fixated on the day’s final two doubles sets that happened to be taking place on a pair of adjacent courts.
The Panthers managed to eke out both of the remaining doubles sets, ensuring itself a thrilling 10-8 victory over the Tigers in Friday’s CIF-Southern Section Division 3 championship at The Claremont Club.
“The girls just kept battling, battling and battling,” Valencia coach Mike McCall said after the match. “Ultimately their doubles had a little bit more depth than us.”
Friday’s championship match produced a vastly different outcome for Valencia (18-3) than Wednesday’s semifinal did.
The Tigers three doubles teams combined to go 8-1 in the semis against Cerritos, while their singles players went 4-5 overall.
In the final, Valencia notched just two points in doubles action, while the singles won six of nine sets.
“We kind of seesawed all season with our singles and doubles dominating” McCall added. “It just comes down to the matchups the other team will throw at you. But that’s what you want to see as a coach – everybody contributing.”
Poly (19-1) raced to a 4-0 lead in Friday’s first round thanks to a doubles sweep and a 6-0 win from its top singles player, Amber Park.
Kavita Kadiamada and Kristy Kao earned the Tigers’ only two points of the opening round, notching singles wins of 6-3 and 6-0.
All three of Valencia’s singles players – Kadiamada, Kao and Emilee Duong – went 2-1 on the afternoon, each dropping its respective set to Park.
A 3-3 second round set the stage for a wildly entertaining final round.
Tiffany Nguyen and Ashley Chen tied the score at 8-8 for Valencia with a 6-2 doubles win.
The Panthers, however, captured their ninth point with a win from the Brooke Olson–Sami Collins tandem.
Playing in the final set of the day, Valencia’s duo of Diana Hernandez and Vandana Kadiamada had an opportunity to even its set at 5-5 with Poly, but when the Panthers broke serve, they ultimately grabbed the decisive 10th point.
“That’s all you can ask for as a coach,” McCall said. “It came down to that last set.”
Had the Tigers managed to even the overall score, 9-9, they would have ultimately won on games, 69-67.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
