El Camino advances to women's tennis state championship to face NorCal champion Cañada

El Camino College women's tennis
El Camino College women's tennis
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April 19, 2022

CCCAA Women's Tennis Championship Bracket

TORRANCE -  El Camino College downed fellow South Coast Conference squad College of the Desert, 5-2, in the California Community College Athletics Association Women's Tennis Southern California Regional Final on Tuesday afternoon at the ECC Tennis Courts.

With the victory, the Warriors advance to the CCCAA State Championship match for the first time in program history. Prior to this season, the SoCal Regional Final was the furthest the team had advanced back in 2002 and 2003, both resulting in losses to Grossmont, the eventual state champion.

The Warriors last women's tennis team title came in 1974 at the Ojai Tennis Tournament when they were the first recipients of the Harriet Thacher Team Trophy awarded to the top community college team in the state.

On Tuesday, the Warriors were spotted three points as the Roadrunners did not have enough players to field a third doubles team nor a No. 5 and No. 6 player. As a result, the Warriors needed to just win two games to clinch a trip to the state championship match.

The No. 1 doubles team of Julia Jones and Kekoa Vaefa, the 2022 South Coast Conference champions, got the Warriors halfway there with an 8-4 win against the Roadrunners top duo of Shekinah Daffon and Antonella Mazzotti.

But the Roadrunners were able to take the No. 2 doubles match, forcing the Warriors to win one of the four remaining singles matches to clinch.

Warriors No. 4 Kayla Brown helped put an end to the suspense, defeating Mazzotti in straight sets to clinch the match. At the time of Brown's victory, the other two matches in progress were either tied at one set apiece or en route to a third set.

The Warriors, the No. 1 seed in Southern California, will face off against Northern California No. 3 seed Canada College of Redwood City, Calif. The Colts defeated No. 1 seed Chabot, 5-3, on Monday to punch their ticket to the CCCAA State Championships.

Overall, the Colts went 14-1 on the season with their only loss coming to Chabot on March 15 by a score of 5-4.

The CCCAA Women's Tennis State Championships will take place on Saturday, April 23 at the Bakersfield Racquet Club in Bakersfield, Calif. First serve is set for 10:30 a.m.

CCCAA Southern California Regional Final
No. 1 EL CAMINO COLLEGE 5, No. 5 COLLEGE OF THE DESERT 2
SINGLES

  1. Julia Jones (ECC) vs. Shekinah Daffon (COD) 1-6, 6-5 (suspended)
  2. Emunah Daffon (COD) def. Kekoa Vaefa (ECC) 6-1, 6-1
  3. Danay Holman (ECC) vs. Augustina Berrondo (COD) 6-0, 4-6 (suspended)
  4. Kayla Brown (ECC) def. Antonella Mazzotti (COD) 6-2, 6-4
  5. Stefanie Liebich (ECC) def. Kimberly Jimenez (COD) by default
  6. Madeline Evans (ECC) by default

Order of Finish: 5, 6, 2, 4

DOUBLES

  1. Jones/Vaefa (ECC) def. S. Daffon/Mazzotti (COD) 8-4
  2. E. Daffon/Berrondo (COD) def. Holman/Brown (ECC) 8-2
  3. Liebich/Evans (ECC) by default

Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1

(Rafael Guerrero, El Camino College Athletics)

Cañada beats Coast Conference rival Chabot in teams' third showdown of the season; Gain state championship berth

HAYWARD - The Co-Coast Conference Champions of Cañada College and Chabot College set up a third, tie-breaking match after both dominated in the earlier rounds of the NorCal Regional bracket. Chabot earned the higher seed by beating the Colts in their most recent meeting, tying in the regular season at 11-1. 

In this third meeting of the '22 season, the co-champs had more than just a tie-break; there were bragging rights in the Coast Conference, a NorCal Regional Team Title, and a spot in the season-finale State Championship in Bakersfield. Those went the way of Cañada, which posted a 5-3 win on Monday afternoon.

The match started quickly, loudly, and with waves of energy as the doubles matches got underway. Early on, all three Cañada teams took the lead at 2-1. After an hour of battle, the Colts flipped the doubles result from the previous two meetings, going into the singles matches up, 2-1.

The Colts knew they needed to take advantage of this lead, and grab their wins, quickly. 

The Cañada 3, Josie Thompson, made short work of her opponent, beating her 6-0, 6-0, followed by a Chabot win at line 4 with the same score. Up 3-2, the Colts' stampede began to struggle at certain lines, with Chabot picking up the next win at singles 1. 

With three remaining matches, clinch player, Michaela Llewelyn brought the energy back to the Cañada bench, securing a 7-5, 6-4 victory in her third meeting against Chabot's Julie Santiago.

After hearing the resounding, "Let's go!" from Llewelyn at Court 2, Cañada's 5 (Cori Mehring) and 6 (Claudia Westrum) stepped up in a race to the finish.

As she did in the Regional Semifinal, Cori Mehring clinched her match with a 6-3, 7-5 win, earning her team a NorCal Championship, and sending the Colts the State Championship match, scheduled for this Saturday (4/23/22) at Bakersfield Racquet Club.

Doubles
1.     Zoe Olmos/Julia Santiago (Cha) def. Zuzia Dziewieçka/Josie Thompson (Cañ), 8-4
2.     Michaela Llewelyn/Lauren Denenberg (Cañ) def. Sandy Morizawa/Alma Hwang (Cha), 8-6
3.     Susan Kettering/Claudia Westrum (Cañ) def. Mi Qi/Ronnette Tolentino (Cha), 9-7

Singles
1.      Z. Olmos (Ch) def. Z. Dziewieçka (Ca), 6-0, 6-1
2.     M. Llewelyn (Ca) def. J. Santiago (Ch), 7-5, 6-4
3.     J. Thompson (Ca) def. S. Cornelio (Ch), 6-0, 6-0
4.     S. Morozawa (Ch) def. L. Denenberg (Ca), 6-0, 6-0
5.     C. Mehring (Ca) def. G. Madison (Ch), 6-3, 7-5
6.     C. Westrum (Ca) v. Mi Qi (Ch) --- Match stopped

 

(Cañada College Athletics)