Three more local juniors took top honors at the Deer Park Fall Zone Advancement Tournament.
At the same time, two others placed second.
The three wins gave county entries four total at the championship-level qualifying tournament, as Friendswood’s Amanda Robjohns also had walked away with a first-place trophy, winning the girls’ 10-and-under singles championship.
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Leading Young Ladies
League City’s Michelle Raji and Natasha Morgan each claimed girls’ singles titles at the Deer Park Fall ZAT.
Raji won the 14s “white” division as a No. 5 seed, while Morgan did likewise in the 16s “red” division as a non-seed.
Both won five rounds in all.
Raji only gave up five games in her first four matches, beginning with a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash of Houston’s Syndey Schroder in the opening round.
Raji followed with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Pasadena’s Thanh Nguyen in the second round and a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Houston’s Natalie Petruzzi in the quarterfinals.
Then Raji eased past Houston’s Marisa Martinez in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-0, before needing a third-set super-tiebreaker to upset Houston’s No. 2-seeded Holly Cook in the final, 6-4, 4-6, 13-11.
As for Morgan, she had a rougher road en route to claiming her championship crown.
Morgan started off with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Baytown’s Hayley Heard in the first round, then upset Friends-wood’s No. 1-seeded Katie Purdum in the second round, 7-5, 6-4.
Morgan put together another 7-5, 6-4 upset over Houston’s No. 5-seeded Brittany Iler in the quarterfinal, before rallying past Houston’s Michelle Owsley in the semifinals, 0-6, 6-2, 10-4.
Later, in the final, Morgan held off Houston’s Janice Maliakkal 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
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True To Form
Friendswood’s Erik Linde was favored to win the Deer Park Fall ZAT boys’ 18s singles title from the opening round and lived up to his No. 1 billing with a 2-6, 6-4, 10-4 comeback victory over Cypress’ No. 2-seeded Chris Pillitere in the championship round.
Linde drew a first-round bye before beating Friendswood’s Blake Felty in the second round, 6-0, 6-4. Felty had opened with a 5-7, 6-3, 10-4 first-round win over Houston’s Ferdinand Garcia.
In the quarterfinals, Linde shut out Houston’s No. 5-seeded Steven Nguyen 6-0, 6-0, then proceeded to rally past Houston’s Cameron Chumley in the semifinals, 3-6, 7-5, 11-9.
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One Win Short
League City’s Sophie Baillargeon and Friendswood’s Lindsey Watson advanced to their respective championship matches at the Deer Park Fall ZAT.
But after each won four rounds, Baillargeon was beaten in the girls’ 12s “red” division final, while Watson lost in the girls’ 16s “white” division final.
Baillargeon defeated Sugar Land’s Sanjna Tripathy in the first round, 7-5, 6-3, then upset Humble’s No. 4-seeded Abigail Csengery in the second round, 6-0, 6-2.
Baillargeon continued her winning ways with a 6-4, 6-2 quarterfinal victory over Houston’s Mari Martinez and a 6-3, 6-1 semifinal upset of Angleton’s No. 2-seeded Kourtney Kubala.
But in the final, Baillargeon lost to Houston’s Francesca Canjar 6-1, 6-2.
Watson, meanwhile, collected two easy victories before being extended to three sets in the next two rounds before winning. She eventually lost a three-set heartbreaker to Pasadena’s Meagan Crowhurst in the final, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 10-4.
Watson first received a default win over Corpus Christi’s Jazmine Rodriguez, then upset Tomball’s No. 5-seeded Emily Lent in the second round, 6-0, 6-3.
In the quarterfinals, Watson followed with another upset, this one over Cypress’ No. 3-seeded Lisi Becker 6-3, 5-7, 10-8.
Watson later rallied past Houston’s Samantha Martinez in the semifinals, 1-6, 6-4, 11-9. Watson earlier had upset Friendswood’s No. 1-seeded Sarah Westphal in the second round, 2-6, 6-1, 10-1.
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Clear Winner
In the battle for team tennis supremacy in District 24-5A, Clear Lake defeated Clear Creek 13-6.
“It was a hard-fought match,” said Wildcats coach Patrick Marrie, whose team now will be the No. 2 seed in the postseason tournament, which begins Thursday. “I was very proud of the effort of the Wildcats.”
Nine of the matches were three-set affairs, including four of the seven doubles matchups that eventually led to a 6-1 Clear Lake advantage.
Clear Creek’s Bianca Quintanilla was a two-time victor, teaming up with Rebekah Taylor in the No. 2 girls’ doubles for a win before taking the No. 2 singles, as well.
Also recording singles wins for the Wildcats were the girls’ Sammy Siegel at No. 1, Haley Albro at No. 4 and Peyton Hardman at No. 5, and the boys’ Casey Armstrong at No. 2.
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Tip Of The Day
You do not have to hit a spectacular shot to an open court. So many points are lost because a player tries to over-hit an easy winner.
Manuel Moreno Jr., head tennis coach at Pasadena J. Frank Dobie High School, is the Spring Branch Independent School District’s Denene Bammel and District 22-5A “Coach of the Year” for 2009. E-mail him at mmjtenicon(at)aol.com.
