On another sweltering day at Paseo Club, extra sets were not in the agenda for West Ranch sophomore Jordyn McBride.
She needed just three Wednesday to overtake Valencia’s Brenna Whelan (6-0, 6-2) and Jennifer Shin (6-2, Ret.) and capture the singles title in Wednesday’s Foothill League finals. McBride will represent the Foothill League in the CIF-Southern Section individual playoffs.
“The heat was tough,” said McBride, who lost in the Foothill League singles final as a freshman. “I don’t think I played my best tennis but I learned to cope with it. I know we’re feeling it on both sides, though.
“It was rough tennis but it was still fun.”
Valencia’s Carlotta Nonnis Marzano and Amanda Tabanera will also be representing the Foothill League after defeating West Ranch’s Audrey Kim and Emily Andrews in the semifinals (6-2, 6-0) and Oliva Bloome and Nicole Alvarez (6-0, 6-1) in the finale.
Nonnis Marzano and Tabanera had served as Valencia’s top singles players throughout the season but a pairing gave them the inside track to representing the Foothill League in doubles play.
“We make a good doubles team because we have similar play styles,” Tabanera said. “We each have our own strengths and when we play together I think we bring them out of each other.”
The two paired up once for a tournament earlier this season but it appeared they’d been working as partners all season long. They lost just three games over the two-day tournament and played the minimum two sets in each of their four matches.
“When you play as a doubles team, you have to have one brain and think like your partner,” Nonnis Marzano said. “We saw some teams getting frustrated with each other during matches and you can’t do that.”
Valencia qualified for the CIF team playoffs with a second-place finish in the Foothill League but it hasn’t been decided whether the duo will play together in that section of the playoffs as well.
West Ranch finished out a dominant Foothill League display this season by winning the singles and doubles third-place matches. Shaira Busnawi defeated Valencia’s Brenna Whelan while Kim and Andrews defeated teammates Danielle Hettinger and Chase Eisenberg. Both wins came in tie-breaking fashion.
“I know how hard our girls work not just in season and they’re reaping the rewards of that,” said West Ranch coach Dina McBride. “This is like the icing on the cake.”
West Ranch, Valencia and Hart await their seeds for the CIF-SS team playoffs, which are set to be released Monday.
