CHS girls’ tennis is no stranger to success, and this year is no different. For the fourth year in a row, they qualified for the playoffs, and yesterday, on a windier day than most, they played their first playoff match against the Oak Park Eagles at home, winning with a total set score of 13-5.
At the beginning of the match, the Coyotes announced their starters for set 1: sophomore Charli Kaaya, freshman Alena Kolsova, and freshman Sophia Loizu would play singles, while junior captain Giana Mucci/senior captain Nava Aminian, senior captain Sydney Smith/junior Emma Penev, and freshman Maddy Ginsberg/sophomore Jade Bassis would play doubles.
In the singles department, set 1 started off well for the Coyotes. Kaaya, Kolsova, and Loizu all took early leads that they would capitalize on by playing excellent defense and serving hard and fast. Loizu would win her set 6-1, while Kaaya and Kolsova would end their sets at 6-2, putting 3 points on the board for the Coyotes.
As for doubles, Calabasas looked untouchable. Mucci/Aminian, Smith/Penev, and Ginsberg/Bassis all started off their sets 3-0. Smith and Penev would carry this momentum to a 6-0 routing, with this being the only 6-0 win for either side in doubles. Ginsberg and Bassis traded points with Oak Park for a round before eventually clinching their set at 6-1. Mucci and Aminian faced the most difficulty; the Eagles fought back by scoring their first two points of the set and decreasing Mucci and Aminian’s lead to only one. However, the captains again took hold of the momentum, ending the set at 6-3 and putting the overall set score at 6-0.
Set 2 was less perfect for the Coyotes. Kolsova and Kaava let up 1 combined point between the both of them, but Loizu suffered a 1-6 defeat, which finally put Oak Park on the scoreboard. The Eagles took another win against Ginsberg and Bassis in the doubles section by jumping out to an early 4-1 lead and finishing the set at 6-2.
However, continuing with the strong Calabasas doubles wins from the first set, Mucci/Aminian and Smith/Penev both won their matches even after both starting from a 0-1 deficit. This put the overall set score at 10-2, and because the first to score 10 set points in tennis wins, the Coyotes had officially won the match. However, due to the rules, both teams still played out the 3rd set.
Before starting out the 3rd and final set, the Coyotes made some substitutions. On the singles’ side, freshman Sivan Shohet, junior Katelyn Charters, and senior captain Tea Damascus came in for Loizu, Kolsova, and Kaava respectively. On the doubles’ side, sophomore Isla Goldfarb/senior Siena Goldfarb replaced Mucci and Aminian, while junior Ella Kingsrud replaced Smith.
Oak Park had their best performance of the day in set 3 singles, taking down Shohet and Charters 6-1 and 6-0 respectively. In contrast, Damascus won her set 6-4, although it definitely became dicey down the stretch. Ginsberg and Bassis – the only girls along with Penev to play all 3 sets – took their first loss of the day, suffering 6 consecutive points after taking the first one. After starting from a 1-2 deficit, the sisters Goldfarb fought back to take the lead and the eventual set at 6-4. However, none compared to the backbreaking doubles set of Penev/Kingsrud. After taking a 2-1 lead, the Eagles eventually tied the game up at 5-5. The teams went into a win-by-2 scenario, where the Coyotes came out on top, winning 7-5, and setting the final set score at 13-5.
The Coyotes are currently playing the Mater Dei Monarchs at Mater Dei for the second round of playoffs.
