ROSEVILLE, Calif. – St. Francis sophomore Maria McDougall defeated both Laguna Creek's Subha Patel and Pleasant Grove's Jeannie Zhang in straight sets to advance to the Division I girls' singles semifinal round of the Sac-Joaquin Section individual championships, held at Johnson Ranch Racquet Club Thursday.

McDougall opened with a 6-0, 6-1 sweep of Patel in the first round, then breezed by Zhang by scores of 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinal. The two wins moves her Friday's semifinal, where she will face defending champion Lyla Van Loben Sels of McClatchy. Meanwhile, PG's Emi Mikami and Folsom's Jayani Sri Nandika Duggirala square off on the opposite end of the bracket.

McDougall becomes the first Troubie to reach Friday's final four in singles since Adithi Benush in 2018. SF has more recently advanced doubles tandems to the semifinals, with Chloe Garcia and Aniyus Pierre making such a run in 2022.

The section tournament continues an outstanding season for the SF sophomore, who holds a 16-1 record at No. 1 singles during her team's dual matches. In fact, her two wins at Johnson Ranch came less than 24 hours after her victory against Del Oro as part of the Troubies' 5-4 minor upset in the Division I team bracket.

The SJS individual championships resume at 10 a.m. on Friday. Regardless of her finish, McDougall will rejoin her teammates in the team semifinals against Granite Bay on Monday.