Downey girls tennis falls in CIF D6 quarterfinals
Downey’s Regina Tut hits a shot as they play Gahr in their CIF girls tennis playoff match at Downey High School on Friday. Downey defeated Gahr to move to the next round. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
DOWNEY – Under first year head girls coach Byung Park, the Downey Girls Tennis team advanced to the CIF-Southern Section D6 Quarterfinals, but came up short to host Pacifica Christian of Orange County.
All in all, it was a successful first season for Park, who is also the boys tennis coach.
“We started off a little slow in the pre-season and first round of league games, but finished the year with a big winning streak of seven games until the quarterfinal loss,” Downey Girls first-year Tennis coach Byung Park said.
The Vikings, who finished with an 11-8 overall record this season, defeated Vista Del Lago (Moreno Valley), 11-7, in the opening round of the playoffs and 10-8 over Gahr in the second round.
“Darlene (Saldana) played great in our first round of playoffs,” said Park, of his senior. “She won all her matches and really pulled it out for us in that match because our other singles just had a slightly off day. But she came through that day and picked up her teammates well and clinched our match for us.”
In the second round the Vikings held off visiting Gahr, 10-8, in a match at Downey High.
That victory sent the Vikings to their first quarterfinal in a few years.
“This is kind of uncharted territory I think for a lot of us,” said Park, after the win over Gahr to advance to the quarterfinals. “I’ve been telling the girls that we’re peaking at the right time. We’re playing our best. It’s cool to watch.
“We have so many kids back from last year’s team. I know I’m the coach, but we have a lot of hands that played a part in this team.”
The quarterfinal result was all one-sided, as Downey lost, 16-2, to Pacifica Christian of Newport Beach.
Park also said of his team this past year, “The doubles and our depth was a big strength of our team. The singles showed massive improvement and consistency from the beginning of the year to the end.”
The highlight of the season was his top doubles team with a perfect regular season, as Downey No. 1 doubles Sofia Serrato and Anika Choi were the top players on the team with an undefeated regular season record. They were 30-0 in their regular season matches.
In the first round win over Vista Del Lago, two of the three Vikings doubles teams swept their opponents 3-0, along with
Leading the way was Serrato/Choi with scores of 6-2, 6-2 and 6-1 against their 1’s, 2’s and 3’s doubles teams.
The No. 2’s team Sofia Baltazar/Sophia Cervantes swept its opponents, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.
Saldana was the only singles player to sweep her three sets, 6-4, 6-3 and 6-3 over their 1’s, 2’s and 3’s.
In the second round win over Gahr, both the doubles No. 1 and No. 2 teams again swept their opponents – Serrato/Choi, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 and Baltazar/Cervantes, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.
The clinching match for the win over Gahr came from No. 2 singles player, junior Regina Tut.
“At first I didn’t know (that we won),” said Tut, of the match-clinching win. “I was really excited. It’s never happened before. s
After losing her two sets against their No. 1 (0-6) and No. 2 (0-6) opponent and the Vikings holding a 9-6 lead in sets, the final three Downey singles matches were the final three sets of the match, with the Vikings needing only one set win to clinch the match.
Regina came through with a 6-3 win to send Downey to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinal loss to Pacifica Christian, the only two wins came from the No. 1 doubles (Serrato/Choi) against their No. 2 doubles, 6-3 and Downey’s No. 2 doubles (Baltazar/Cervantes) against their No. 1 doubles, 7-6 (7-4).
