Two locals bow out

SEAL BEACH — Most of the early girls’ tennis matches were over Thursday at the CIF Southern Section Individuals.

But, for Estancia High senior Ellie Edles, the second set had just begun.

It was that kind of drawn-out match, complete with plenty of drawn-out points, as Edles faced Marivick Mamiit of South Pasadena in the Round of 16 at the Seal Beach Tennis Center.

In the end, Mamiit won the match, 7-5, 6-3. Corona del Mar junior Melissa Matsuoka was also eliminated in her first match of the day, falling to No. 2-seeded Stacey Tan of Lakewood, 6-2, 6-2.

Edles had reason to smile after her match. It was the furthest the two-time Orange Coast League singles champion had advanced in her high school career.

Estancia Coach Rachel de los Santos said it was also the first time an Eagles player had advanced to the Round of 16 in at least eight years, which is her coaching tenure at Estancia.

“I know it’s been a long time,” de los Santos said. “This is a huge accomplishment. There’s only 16 girls here.”

The UC Davis-bound Edles, ranked No. 41 in Southern California girls’ 18 singles, had chances in each of her sets against Mamiit, ranked No. 22. She saved a couple of set points in the first set, but Mamiit finally held serve at 6-5 to win the set.

Edles was ahead, 3-2, in the second set, but Mamiit took the final four games.

“She makes you play, and I started to get tight and nervous,” Edles said. “I started missing a little bit more and getting a little frustrated, but she played well ... It was close. The whole thing was just tight. All the games were really long.”

That wasn’t necessarily the case in Matsuoka’s match, but the junior hung in there in each set against the Stanford-bound Tan.

Tan led, 3-2, in each set, before winning the last three games.

“I knew she was a really good player,” Matsuoka said. “I had absolutely no pressure at all. I just played out the match and had a lot of fun ... It was a good experience playing these really good players. I mean, you don’t get to play these people every day.”

CdM Coach Brian Ricker said Matsuoka’s tough draw likely came because the draws were formulated based on girls’ 18 singles rankings. Matsuoka has played more in girls’ 16 singles.

But it was a solid end of the season for Matsuoka, who had to sit out much of it due to a wrist injury.

“I thought Melissa played well,” Ricker said. “She’s officially over her injury.”