Trojans beat RedHawks, fall to Lions in girls tennis playoffs

In a rematch of last year's Northern Section Division II championship match, the Orland High girls tennis team met Colusa in the first round of the playoffs and once again earned a victory.

Last year the Trojans escaped with the section championship in a tight game which was decided by the doubles matches, this year the Trojans secured the match in singles play, winning 5-1 Tuesday on their home courts.

"The girls are playing good tennis at the right time. We are peaking at the right time and I can't be more happy with the way they've played," Orland coach George Valentine said.

Orland advanced to the championship game once again, but Live Oak swept the Trojans 6-0 on Wednesday.

Against the RedHawks, every singles match was decided in straight sets. Butte View League singles champion Stacey Ramirez defeated Coral Imhoff 6-2, 6-3 in the No. 1 singles match.

Ramirez kept Imhoff off balance all match with tricky spins and accurate shots.

Putting spin on the ball has always been one of her strengths, Ramirez said, but she entered the match confident and it translated into an impressive victory against Imhoff, who took second place in the Sacramento Valley League.

"I swing through my shots a lot more and I don't just barely hit it. I learned to angle it better now," Ramirez said. "They're our competitors so it's like we knew how they were going to play today."

Cassandra Carper held Colusa's Kimberlee Harmon at bay in the No. 2 singles match 6-2, 6-2, and Orland's Raquel Ontiveraz won the closest match on Court 3 6-4, 6-3 against Stephanie Munguia.

Sabrina Carper's steady play earned her a victory against Colusa's Mackenzie Bressler in the No. 5 match 6-1, 6-0, and Melina Torres won in straight sets against Taylor Davies (6-4, 6-1).

Colusa sophomore Cheyenne Laux continued her hot streak after a strong showing in the SVL tournament by defeating Orland's Gessica Leuschner, an All-BVL player, in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.

"It's been really awesome. I got to play really good people, which is fortunate for me because it made me learn a lot," Laux said.

Orland played Live Oak on Wednesday for the Division II title, but the senior-laden Lions won all six singles matches to claim their second section title in three years.

Lucerto Topete, Jacque Mullen, Crystal Rodriguez, Aisha Khan, Clarissa Herrera and Lupe Chavez, who are all seniors, won their matches for Live Oak.

"We had a good BVL tournament where we had five girls earn all-league so they had a good run this year," Valentine said.

Orland sends five singles players and two doubles teams to the Northern Section Championship Tournament this weekend, and Colusa sends two singles players and a doubles team to the tournament.

CONTACT Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com.