Photo of Natalie Arminak courtesy of Amanda Lin
Girls Tennis:
It was the biggest match of the season to date for both the Lady Minutemen and the Defenders, as first place in the Olympic League was on the line.
Each team was undefeated in league play coming into today’s matchup.
The mutual gauge of each other was their matches against league-contender, Village Christian.
VC won their contest, 12-6, while Maranatha won theirs, 10-8.
The Defenders certainly have a stronger resume so far this season and came in as slight favorites, which is a rarity when playing against Maranatha.
This was a tight match throughout, and began with the strong possibility that the Lady Minutemen would be trailing, 2-4, after the first round.
In singles, #1 Natalie Arminak and #3 Kathryn Khalil pulled out hard-fought wins, 6-3 and 6-2, while in doubles, #2 Esmee Eaton/Sofia Celis and #3 Diana Sarksyan/Laura Garabedian fell, 5-7 and 2-6.
In the meanwhile, #1 Mia Huang/Mia Su were behind, 0-4, while # 2 Grace Yang, was down, 2-4.
Improbably, they both roared back and secured 7-5 and 6-4 wins, giving Maranatha a 4-2 lead heading into the second round.
Maranatha pulled ahead, 8-4, on yet another singles sweep and one doubles win, with Arminak, Yang, and Khalil registering 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 wins and Huang/Su posting a dominant, 6-0 win, the only “bagel” of the day for either team.
The final round belonged to the Defenders, who did not quit.
Winning the first three sets of the round put the score at 8-7.
Huang/Su’s set was up in the air, tied 4-4, as they were in a nip and tuck affair against the same doubles team they faced in the semi-finals of last season’s league tournament.
That was a 2 1/2 hour thriller that ended with Huang/Su falling short, 8-10, in the third set super tie-breaker.
The final remaining contests involved Arminak and Yang, who were putting distance between them and their opponents.
They concluded their sets within a minute of each other and completed their singles sweeps, with convincing 6-1 wins.
That clinched it for the Lady Minutemen, giving them the 10 sets needed for the win.
At that point, the day’s most exciting match was being played, with Huang/Su ahead, 6-5, and with match point in hand.
They could not convert, sending the set into a tie-breaker, which followed the pattern of the set itself, with no team ever leading by more than one.
Each team had match points in hand, but could not convert.
Eventually, Huang/Su succumbed, 8-10.
The two squads face each other two more times this season, with the league title very much still up for grabs.
Their next duel will be on the upcoming Monday at Valley, as the Defenders try to catch Maranatha in the league standings.
Today’s narrow win pushes Maranatha’s overall record to 7-2, 3-0 in league, with their next match on Thursday with Providence/Burbank in a nonleague contest.
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