Tennis team Baler Girls fights hard in last home match defeat

Read this article in Spanish here.

The Hollister High School girls tennis team failed to win one of their matches against second-place Santa Catalina High School in their final home match on Oct. 22. It was a disappointing but expected outcome as they faced tough competition all season. following their 2023 Pacific Coast Athletic League Championship in the Mission Division.

This is our first year in Gabilan moving up to the top division, said Head Coach Ed Cecena. We have been virtually middle class for years. But one of the rewards of winning is moving up. We've dealt with some elite players and taken our lumps.

Top-ranked singles player Jina Youn, a senior, lasted the longest with a two-hour match against Gloria Arastoupour in which she came agonizingly close to taking the first set before being defeated in the second. But Youn took the loss with ease.

I like playing in this league, even if you don't win that much, Youn said after the match. But even though we are not in first place, we are still competing and I have improved a lot this year.

Of the seven matches against the visiting team, only doubles players Alice Williams and Ally Espinoza managed to win a set against Santa Catalina before they too went down with a defeat.

Cecena said he was pleased with the team's fourth-place finish given the talent gap between his team and the top three high schools: Carmel, Santa Catalina and top-ranked Stevenson.

We're beating the teams we need to beat, he said, and we've had some competitive games. We also had some really quick matches where we were beaten quite well. But overall it's a new experience.

Coach Rick Espino said that although the players on the top three teams are very difficult to beat, the girls stayed motivated.

Those teams are just overwhelming, he said. But when you compete against stronger players, you become a stronger player. Our girls come out every time and do their best, and if they fall short, we're still happy with what we did.

This year has been helpful, Cecena said, because we can see what we need to do to improve. We learned a lot, and that is our conclusion. We have returning players who are enthusiastic about tennis, and seeing this level of play really motivates them.

The Balers' runner-up, senior Kate Ang, has only played for the team for two years. She said it is much more difficult to compete against private high schools like Santa Catalina, where the players often have private coaches.

You're competing against girls who have been playing since they were babies, she said. I haven't been playing for very long and I don't have much experience. It's harder and I give myself credit for playing like that.

Although the season didn't go well for the Balers, Cecena said they have enough standing to stay in the upper division, and he will rely on the schools this offseason to improve the team's chances next year.

It will be very difficult for whoever inherits Kate and Jina's spots as No. 1 and No. 2, he said. All I know is that we will compete as best we can.

Jina Youn. Photo by Robert Eliason.

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