Girls Tennis:

Thanks to Maranatha for this report:

Though it was only the first match of the Olympic League season, there was already a playoff atmosphere and intensity between two of the league’s top teams, each contending for the league title.

Though Maranatha has dominated the Olympic League landscape over the last decade, winning eight league titles and two CIF-SS championships, the league is wide open this season.

The Lady Minutemen will be in contention, but they are not the favorites.

With the departure of five starters from last year’s undefeated league championship team, including league singles MVP, Stella Hsieh, and doubles MVP, Kasey McCoy (who partnered with Esmee Eaton), the rest of the league knows that the window is now wide open.

Boasting a robust squad that includes the league’s top two singles players and one of the league’s best doubles teams, the Crusaders’ path to victory was straight forward and probable.

Maranatha, on the other hand, did not possess the margins for anyone to slip up.

They knew that.

The way things were projecting, for the Lady Minutemen to have a chance, they would have to lead 4-2 after the first round and then split sets the rest of the way.

With the match tied, 2-2, the two remaining sets were very tight.

No. 3 Kathryn Khalil fought back from a 0-3 deficit to squeeze out a well-earned 7-5 victory.

With No. 1 Mia Huang/Mia Su firmly ahead 4-1, it seemed as if MHS’s first round plan would come to fruition.

No one told the plan to the Crusaders’ top doubles team, who put up a comeback of their own, staving off two match points, to shock Huang/Su and everyone watching, 7-5.

That loss evened the score at 3-3, with Village ahead on games.

The best Maranatha could hope for now was an upset in the next two rounds.

That looked extremely unlikely, with the most optimistic scenario being that the match would end tied, 9-9, at which point it would come down to the number of games won to determine the victor.

Enter MHS’s No. 3 doubles squad, Diana Sarksyan/Laura Garabedian, both fairly new to doubles and to tennis.

Having eked out a 7-5 win against VC’s No. 3, they now faced the Crusaders’ top team that had just completed the comeback win against MHS’s No. 1 Huang/Su.

In the most improbable turn of events, Sarksyan/Garabedian played “out of their minds” and not only defeated them, but did so with a 6-0 final score.

That upset win sent their teammates into hysteria and gave them the path forward to victory – win 3 more sets in the final round.

With the rest of the team going 2-3, as fate would have it, the day’s final remaining set involved Sarksyan/Garabedian playing the Crusaders’ No. 2 doubles team. When they prevailed, 6-2, the Lady Minutemen stormed the court to celebrate their teammates’ improbable doubles sweep, giving Maranatha an exciting 10-8 victory.

No. 1 Huang/Su won 2 sets, 6-2, 6-2, while No. 2 Esmee Eaton/Sofia Celis also won 2 sets, 6-2, 6-3.

In addition to Khalil’s win, No. 1 Natalie Arminak and No. 2 Grace Yang each won a set at 6-0.

Today’s win puts Maranatha at 5-2 overall and 1-0 in league.

Their next match will be against league opponent, Whittier Christian Heralds, on Thursday.

Photo of Diana Sarksyan and Laura Garabedian courtesy of Amanda Lin