Orange Coast Captures State Title in Tight Dual
By Robin Hester
Ventura College Sports information
VENTURA, Calif. – The tension built throughout the afternoon as Orange Coast and De Anza battled for the 2017 CCCAA Women's Tennis State Dual Championship at the Ventura College Tennis Center. The dual went back and forth with neither team building more than a one-match advantage in the contest until it was tied at 4-4 with the No. 2 singles remaining. Over three hours in, the Pirates' Karen Trinh used a service break at 3-3 in the second set to propel her to a dramatic 6-3 set win, capturing the match 7-5, 6-3, and giving Orange Coast the state title.
Northern California champion De Anza (14-2) gave it a run, taking an early lead as the doubles pair of Mimi Nguyen and Miriam Lopez breezed through OCC's Katie Dahlberg and Anouk De Graauw 8-1 in the No. 2 slot.
The Pirates' No. 1 pair Clarissa Colling and Trinh evened the score, winning six straight games after trailing 3-1 en route to an 8-4 triumph over Lina Nguyen and Mieka Huizinga.
Orange Coast (19-2) gained the upper hand when JoAnn Taylor and Samantha Newhall defeated the Dons' Yoyo Huang and Sharon Cao in No. 3 doubles, 8-3.
The Pirates' advantage was short-lived, however, as De Anza evened the match with Huang's quick one and love victory over De Graauw in No. 6 singles. OCC countered when Colling defeated Lina Nguyen at the No. 1 slot, love and two.
De Anza's Lopez, who came into the match undefeated in singles play, dominated the first set at No. 3, 6-0 before OCC's Taylor fought valiantly before falling in the second, 6-4.
Newhall gave the Pirates a 4-3 advantage with a straight-set 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 5 over Cao.
Huizinga held off a hard-charging Dahlberg 6-3, 7-5 to bring the Dons back to 4-4, setting up the dramatic finish.
OCC's Trinh, who won the Orange Empire Conference singles title two weeks ago, trailed Mimi Nguyen in the first set before coming back to break serve at 5-5, capturing the set 7-5. In the second set, Trinh was down a break once again, 3-2 before tying the score at 3 games each. She then broke Nguyen's serve to capture momentum, and eventually the title.
The championship is Orange Coast's ninth in women's tennis, but the first one since 2006. De Anza, who captured Northern California's first state title in 1998, was the state runner-up for the second year in a row.
Orange Coast 5, De Anza 4
Ventura College
Doubles
1. Colling/Trinh (OCC) def. L. Nguyen/Huizinga (DAC) 8-4
2. M. Nguyen/Lopez (DAC) def. Dahlberg/ De Graauw (OCC), 8-1
3. Taylor/Newhall (OCC) def. Huang/Cao (DAC), 8-3
Singles
1. Clarissa Colling (OCC) def. Lina Nguyen (DAC), 6-0, 6-2
2. Karen Trinh (OCC) def. Mimi Nguyen (DAC), 7-5, 6-3
3. Miriam Lopez (DAC) def. JoAnn Taylor (OCC), 6-0, 6-4
4. Mieka Huizinga (DAC) def. Katie Dahlberg (OCC), 6-3, 7-5
5. Samantha Newhall (OCC) def. Sharon Cao (DAC), 6-0, 6-2
6. Yoyo Huang (DAC) def. Anouk De Graauw (OCC), 6-1, 6-0
Order of finish: Doubles, 2, 1, 3. Singles; 6, 1, 3, 5, 4, 2