A strong day in doubles led Castaic girls’ tennis to its first Foothill League win of the season.
The Coyotes toppled the hosting Canyon Cowboys on Tuesday, 10-8, with most of their points coming from doubles. Nothing came easy for Castaic on either side, as each game was full of long rallies, strong volleys and deuce points.
Castaic’s No. 1 doubles team Allison Hernandez and Isabela Nunez earned 6-2 and 6-0 wins, only dropping their frame with Canyon No. 2 Natalia Milhoun and Campbell Laraway.
Castaic No. 3 doubles team Maddie Davila and Viktoria Paragas were the only Coyotes to come away with three wins on the day. Paragas and Davila brought in 6-3, 7-6 and 6-3 wins after three long battles on the court with the Cowboys.
“Maddie and Victoria have been improving greatly and working hard,” Castaic coach Rob Chew wrote in an email. “They both are hard workers and did a great job looking for opportunities to control the net. They also have really been working on their communication that requires them to switch positions after a lob. They had a tiebreaker in an earlier match and it was a tough loss, but I’m proud of them to see that they dug deep and pulled out the win and the sweep.”
Senior Zoe Brown added a perfect day for Canyon with 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1 wins. Brown, the Cowboys’ top singles player, battled in some long sets with Castaic No. 1 Kaitlyn Reimbold but once the Cowboy got into rhythm with her serve, she took over.
“I am seeing much more consistency for Zoe,” Canyon coach Dennis Yong wrote in an email. “She has a variety of shots in her toolbox-slice, drop shots, etc., that can make her game interesting to watch and throw off her opponents. I expect her to continue to improve as we progress through our season.”
Reimbold had a great bounce-back and won her next two matches, 7-5 and 6-2.
“(Reimbold) is the usual No. 1 and our team captain,” Chew said. “She had a tough time getting warmed up, but once she did, she played some tough matches and won the final set that gave our team the victory. Once she’s warmed up, she does a great job working the point with her penetrating ground strokes.”
Canyon also earned two wins from No. 2 singles Alaina Ramey, who added 6-1 and 6-4 wins, while just dropping her frame to Reimbold 7-5.
Back in doubles, Castaic got two wins from both its top two duos.
Coyotes No. 2 Gina Angles and Eva Guerrero added 6-1 and 6-2 wins, only dropping their matchup with Canyon No. 2 doubles Sophia Kalajyan and Hayden Davis, 4-6.
Yong is sure his girls will continue to improve and start fighting their way up the league standings.
“I am confident that the girls are getting better and better each week,” Yong said. “While we have a young team, I am proud of their work ethic and perseverance on the court. They are improving and enjoying themselves.”
Castaic head coach Daniel Ahn wasn’t present at Tuesday’s match with Canyon but has seen tremendous individual, team and program growth in 2024.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season,” Ahn said via email. “We’ve got more out of league matches. We’ve had the most number of players try out for the team ever since the start of the program, and close to half of our players are in ninth grade. It’s definitely a growth in interest from the past years, and many of the girls have a lot of potential. It will be key for the new players in the next few years to build on their potential given we have a lot of new players.”
Both teams return to league play on Tuesday at 3 p.m. as Canyon returns home to host West Ranch while Castaic heads to Golden Valley.
“We hope to always build and improve from previous games, and we hope our girls will pick up some sets or be more competitive against the best teams and players in the league,” Ahn said. “In the process, we hope to build and pick up a few more wins to boost team morale.”