The Los Altos girls tennis team has won the CIF Northern California Regional Tennis Championship for the second year in a row, capping off a historic era for the group.
Los Altos head coach Hung Nguyen said he was proud of the girls for winning back-to-back regional titles.
“To have accomplished that is a great feeling,” Nguyen said. “Plus, the pressure of repeating is there. Last year, we had nothing to lose, but this year, we did feel a little more pressure to defend it. I thought this year, even though our team is strong, it was a little tougher road to get there compared to last year.”
Los Altos was the No. 1 seed coming out of the strong Central Coast Section, beating Lowell (7-0) in the quarterfinals and Miramonte (5-2) in the semifinals on Friday. Los Altos then took down University High School from San Francisco 5-2 Saturday in the championship game, staying locked in against a young, talented team. Cory Medeiros and Carissa Lai played doubles for Los Altos and started strong, beating Annabelle Allessio and Lauren Conner (6-0, 6-1). Los Altos also won all four of its singles matchups, with Bella Mariona defeating Riley Lim (6-1, 7-5) Rebecca Wu defeating Aarya Thora (6-2, 6-4), Emily Wu defeating Pipere Lim (6-0, 6-1) and Pallavi Mallampati defeating Anna Bhusri (6-2, 6-1).
“There were a lot of great points where there were long rally points, so I think it was a lot tougher than the 5-2 score,” Nguyen said. “I thought everybody played well.”
Los Altos also repeated as CCS team champions this year in a 5-2 win over Los Gatos Nov. 18 at the Los Gatos Swim and Racquet Club. No. 4 seed Los Altos beat Lynbrook, Harker and Menlo to reach the CCS girls team tennis final.
“I think because of those tough matches early, it prepared us for this final,” Nguyen said of the CCS title. “They were locked in since the quarterfinals.”
Lynbrook was the best non-seeded opponent in the tournament, while No. 5 seed Harker provided a tough test before Los Altos beat No. 1 seed Menlo in the semifinals (4-3), its opponent in the CCS finals last season.
“Menlo, it’s just always a heavyweight battle,” Los Altos assistant coach Steve Apfelberg said.
Los Altos finished the league season in third place, and No. 2 seed Los Gatos beat Los Altos twice during the regular season. However, the Eagles had many players back from injury, including No. 2 Cory Medeiros.
“They play so many high-level tournaments, so that’s a lot of wear and tear on them,” Nguyen said.
The No. 1 singles CCS match was between Bella Mariona and Kayla Mitchell, the best two players in the section, with Mariona’s victory being the fourth of the day for the Los Altos team to ensure the championship. The CCS title solidifies this period as one of the most successful times in program history. Los Altos captured its first-ever CCS girls team championship last year against Menlo and the CIF NorCal Regional Girls Tennis Championship. Mariona, the team’s No. 1, recently committed to Wake Forest.
“We’ve been absolutely blessed with Bella Mariona,” Apfelberg said. “She set the tone and put our program at a different level.”
Nguyen noted that much of the success over the last two years is down to the team’s strength and depth.
“I keep telling the girls to cherish this moment, because I’ve been at Los Altos for a long time,” Nguyen said. “We’ve had some great players that went through Los Altos, but we never had the depth to go this far.”
Los Altos now advances on to the state title game against Corona del Mar Saturday, Nov. 29 on the Fresno State University campus.
