West Ranch Wildcats girls’ tennis rolled through its home Foothill League match with the Saugus Centurions on Thursday, winning 12-6.
The Wildcats saw perfect days from singles players Audrey Park and Ava Siano.
Park, West Ranch’s No. 1 singles player, swept through her matches, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, while Siano, the No. 2 singles, finished the day with 6-3, 6-1 and 6-4 wins.
Saugus No. 1 doubles team Kelsie Lammens-Ross and Madison Vianzon picked up one win on the day, beating West Ranch’s No. 1 doubles squad Genesis Nochez and Audrey Kim 6-3.
The Centurion duo dropped their second set 6-4 before calling it a day early. Lammens-Ross and Vianzon were just inches away from a trip to the Foothill League finals last season and will likely be a heavyweight in the tournament this season. Head coach Bailey Sindle saw the two were not at their best but knows her star duo will bounce back.
“I think today was an off day for them,” Sindle wrote in an email. “They’ve been lights-out all season and haven’t lost until the match Tuesday. When they play their tennis, they are hard to beat.”
Saugus nearly stole more points in doubles as No. 2 team Zoe Farrell and Izzy Feirheit battled in some long frames. The Centurions’ No. 2 duo won their final match 6-0 but dropped their first two, 7-6 and 7-5. Sindle was proud of the hard-fought effort in their marathon day.
“Zoe and Izzy don’t give up,” Sindle wrote. “They will fight all the way until the very end. Their on-court chemistry is fantastic and they have built a very strong partnership when they play together. I think every set they played was winnable and this was a good mental test for them on the importance of closing sets when up. They were up in all their sets and we just need to work on closing them out.”
Sindle saw dozens of lengthy sets go to deuce but just get away from the Centurions. Saugus is still off to a strong start to the year but will look to close out as a team.
“We had a lot of close ones that just didn’t go our way,” Sindle wrote. “In doubles we should have closed on a couple of those close ones and that could have made the difference for the match. I also think all the singles matches against Ava were incredibly close though the score may not reflect it. They were all long, hard-fought sets that really could have gone either way. I know my girls are already ready for our next match against them.”
Both teams returned to action on Tuesday as West Ranch took on Valencia while Saugus returned home to host Hart.
“The girls’ main focus is always to have fun and build a strong team connection,” Sindle wrote. “They play better when they are supporting one another and enjoying their time on court. They want to make the playoffs and want to get out of the fourth-place league standing we’ve had the past few seasons. Our matches next week against Hart and Golden Valley will be big and they are taking them seriously. They are fired up and ready to compete.”
