Saugus Centurions girls’ tennis picked up another crucial Foothill League win on the road on Tuesday, downing the Canyon Cowboys.
The Centurions won the match 16-2, sweeping the day in doubles.
Saugus No. 1 doubles Madison Vianzon and Kelsie Lammens-Ross finished the day with 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0 wins. The two Centurions dominated their sets and have impressed head coach Bailey Sindle with their improvements this season.
“Madi and Kelsie work so well together,” Sindle wrote in an email. “I think the biggest improvement from last season to this season is their communication. They strategize well and feed off of each other’s strengths. They get better with every match and always play their best when they have fun on court. They love playing and competing and I look forward to seeing how they do at prelims.”
Centurion No. 2 doubles Izzy Leifheit and Zoe Farrell never dropped a set on the day and finished with three straight 6-0 victories.
“I have a really special doubles lineup this season,” Sindle wrote. “After losing a lot of graduating seniors last year, I was curious what I would do for my doubles lineup. We played around with it a bit during preseason and I think we found teams that are not only strong players, but each team clicks well with their partner. Doubles is so reliant on communication and if a doubles team doesn’t work together then there can be some challenges.”
In singles, Saugus’ No. 1 Frankie Spandoni and No. 2 Shaine Salonga were pushed in some longer battles but emerged victorious in all three frames.
Spandoni picked up 6-3 and 6-1 wins before finishing the day with a 7-5 win over Canyon No. 2 singles Zoe Brown. Brown, a junior, has shown tremendous improvement this season and been a tough out for most of her Foothill League foes.
Salonga opened the day with a 6-3 win over Brown and also added 6-3 and 6-2 wins. Both Spandoni and Salonga dropped long matches to Brown in Saugus’ first bout with Canyon but Sindle saw her two singles players finish strong.
“(Spandoni and Salonga) both had long and hard matches against Zoe the last time we played and lost,” Sindle wrote. “I think this second time around they were more determined and focused. Shaine and Frankie were not afraid to swing and were placing the ball well. They were consistent and moved Zoe well, which I think helped them. Zoe is an extremely talented player and gets a lot of balls back. Playing against her is very tough and I’m proud of how my singles girls tried to be as offensive as possible.”
Canyon will look to shake off the loss and rebound in doubles on Tuesday in a home match with West Ranch. Saugus will be off until Thursday, when they return to also host West Ranch.
Only three weeks remain for Foothill League tennis before all teams head to preliminaries. Sindle just wants her team to keep playing their own game and finish strong.
“I want the girls to continue to play their tennis,” Sindle wrote. “When they are on and playing their game, I still believe they can beat anyone. We had some really close matches in the first round of league and my girls are motivated to come back this second time around.”
