Eagles girls’ tennis drops playoff opener
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Kinley Ohland wasn’t her usual self at a tennis match. The CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs began for Estancia High on Wednesday, and Ohland, the Eagles’ top singles player, wasn’t available.
Ohland sat near the courts, watching her team play at San Juan Hills while she battled a 100-degree fever. The fever the senior preferred to have was that playoff fever that hit San Juan Hills’ players.
For the first time, the Stallions celebrated a girls’ tennis win in the playoffs. The Stallions made history with a 16-2 triumph in the first round.
The Stallions broke through in their second playoff appearance. A year ago, in their postseason debut, the Stallions lost at home to Sage Hill, 15-3, in the first round.
The second time around in the playoffs saw Sea View League champion San Juan Hills dominate. The Stallions took eight sets in singles and eight sets in doubles. Their top two singles players, Caylin Duenas and Deanna Yun, each cruised to 6-1, 6-0 wins before being subbed out.
Halfway through the match, Coach Lauren Gelgur knew her Stallions (11-9-1) were on their way to Friday’s second round to face the winner between Troy and Vista Murrieta. Without Ohland, who went 44-7 during the regular season, Estancia (14-6) proved to be no match for the Stallions.
The programs had three common opponents, El Toro, Calvary Chapel and Laguna Beach. Both lost to Laguna Beach, but San Juan Hills easily got past El Toro twice in Sea View League play and Calvary Chapel in a nonleague match. The Eagles beat El Toro, 11-7, in nonleague action and their final Orange Coast League match against Calvary Chapel was even at 9-9, and Estancia prevailed, 79-68, on games.
“I didn’t want the girls to get ahead of themselves, but they looked it up themselves,” Gelgur said of Estancia’s schedule. “I was hoping that they weren’t going to because sometimes you [can overlook a team].”
San Juan Hills stayed focus throughout. The only two sets the Stallions dropped were to No. 2 singles player Karina Catalano, who beat Madi Gilbert, 6-2, and to the No. 2 doubles team of Lauren Weisser and Meg Tuxford, who topped Hanna Borsack and Michaela Fromm, 7-5.
Kendra Fisher, who in her first year in charge of Estancia led her alma mater to a second-place finish in league, thought about moving Weisser or Tuxford into singles with Ohland out. She kept the juniors together and it resulted in the Eagles’ lone doubles win.
“It’s a bummer,” Ohland said of having to sit because of the fever. “Watching them play makes me want to play.”
