FOLSOM, Calif. – The sixth-seeded St. Francis tennis team opened the CIF Northern California Regionals with an upset over No. 3 Tamalpais 6-1 before falling to No. 2 Saint Francis out of Mountain View.
"I am beyond proud of my team" said Head Coach Kristi Spector. "They put up a great fight. We had an amazing match this morning and made a statement over the No. 3 team. We knew going into the semifinals it was going to be a tough match."
The Troubadours equaled the best finish in school history in reaching the CIF NorCal semifinals for the third straight season and fourth time overall. The seniors helped the program to the accomplishment, while winning four Delta league titles with a perfect record and four section finals.
"They have become great friends on and off the court," said Spector of her seniors. "To have them lead the team was amazing. They set good examples to the younger players. We have a big junior class (7) so I hope they were taking notes and they want it as much as these seniors did."
The Troubies, who were seeded sixth after falling to Granite Bay 5-4 in the section final, took the lead in the match with singles win by Alisha Anwar at No. 2 and Alex Evans at No. 4. Anwar defeated Katie Bulger 6-1, 6-1 , while Evans was a 6-2, 6-0 winner of Alyssa Broad.
Polina Greenberg and Bianca Ariza posted a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles to push the lad to 3-0. Tamalpais got a win at No. 1 singles but the Troubadours closed it out with doubles wins at No. 1 and 3.
Safaa Umar and Izzy Asker recorded a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 1 and senior Peyton Spellacy and sophomore Lauren Lai won in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3.
Senior Samantha Sonntag rebounded from a 6-0 first set loss and a match point in the second to win 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 to complete an undefeated singles campaign (15-0).
After an hour break, St. Francis came back to take on No. 2 Saint Francis. The team strategically reset their lineup but the Landers were too strong in singles, sweeping all four matches over No. 1 Adithi Benush, No. 2 Evans, No. 3 Umar and No. 4 Greenberg. SF battled to the end sweeping all three doubles matches but fell 4-3.
Asker/Anwar won 6-3, 6-3 at No. 1, while Sonntag and aria paired for a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 2 in their final match. Spellacy and Lai won a tough three-set battle at No. 3.
