ELK GROVE, Calif. – The St. Francis doubles tandem of Aniyus Pierre and Chloe Garcia defeated second-seeded Katie Shu and Ema Quang of Cosumnes Oaks by scores of 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) to capture the Delta League girls' tennis doubles championship, capping the league tourney held at Laguna Creek Sports Club Wednesday.
The Pierre-Garcia pairing earned All-Delta League honors by virtue of the top-four finish at the tournament, then claimed one of the conference's three spots in the Sac-Joaquin Section individual championships upon advancing to the final.
Impressively, Pierre and Garcia defeated two seeded pairs to win the championship, and took part in three total tiebreakers. They opened the day with a split-set victory against Pleasant Grove's Mischa Mikami and Abigail Wan, falling 6-2 in the first set, coming back to prevail 7-5 in the second, then came away with a 10-3 victory in the single-set tiebreaker.
The St. Francis doubles tandem then outlasted Davis' No. 2 doubles team of Natalie Hersch and Inkyung Hwang – seeded fourth in the 15-team bracket – by scores of 1-6, 6-1 and 10-7 in the tiebreaker. Pierre-Garcia then followed with a dominating 6-1, 6-2 win over CO's Rachel Liang and Pali Luo in the semifinal. That win clinched the section appearance and set up the matchup with the Shu-Quang team.
Shu-Quang, attired in decidedly unofficial uniforms complete with blue and orange bandannas, rolled through their draw throughout the day: a double-bagel win over Franklin's Emma Hoang and Natalie Fong in the first round, a 6-2, 6-0 victory against St. Francis' Arden Garcia and Anna Dinh in the quarterfinal, then a 6-2, 6-3 mild upset of Davis' Elaina Voss and Cloe Lamoureux in the opposite semifinal.
After Pierre's first serve easily took the opening game, the Troubies scored a key break against Quang to forge ahead to a 3-0 lead in the first set. The Wolfpack pair managed to hold serve for the remainder of the first frame, but that setback largely buried them as both Garcia and Pierre continued to protect their serves. Pierre's volleying in front of Garcia's service forged a 5-2 lead, then CO suffered three unforced errors to allow Pierre to hold for 6-3.
St. Francis also went up a break against Shu early in the second, taking all four points in the third game to go up, 2-1. Shu had a costly double fault sandwiched between two shots that sailed long, then Pierre's forehand split the Wolfpack pair to finish. However, CO broke serve in the next game to even the set at 2-2, Shu's strong first serve took a 4-3 lead, then the Wolfpack went up two breaks in the next game. With Garcia on serve, the Troubies took a 40-0 lead and the opportunity to tie the set at 4-4. Instead, Cosumnes Oaks scored four unanswered to claim the no-ad game. Quang's shot clipped the net and nudged over, well in front of a charging Garcia, putting the set score in the Wolfpack's favor at 5-3.
The Troubies won back a critical break against Quang, when Garcia's forehand volley tied up Shu for a 40-30 break point. Quang's service winner brought the score to deuce, only to have a Pierre forehead short-hop Quang for the win, cutting the margin to 5-4. Pierre held serve to tie the set at 5-5, but St. Francis remained down a break. An unforced error gave the Troubies break point, with Garcia's strong backhand forcing Quang to mishandle a volley return. St. Francis took a 6-5 lead, only to miss long on back-to-back shots in the next game, tying the set at 6-6.
The two teams tied five times in the seven-point tiebreaker, with the door opening for the Troubies went Shu double-faulted twice: each of her second serves went mere inches beyond the T, giving SFHS a 7-6 lead. Quang tied the score at 7-7 with a thunderous backhand serve return, but the Troubies scored the final two in succession: Garcia's drop shot forced Shu to rush and miss wide left for 8-7. Then with Quang serving, Pierre slammed an overhead to seal the win.
Pierre and Garcia each earned the St. Francis program's first league doubles title since Kiya and Kyla Jackson won three straight from 2015-17. They will represent the Troubies at the CIF-SJS individual tourney, held at Johnson Ranch Racquet Club on November 3 and 4.
Norah Zhou nearly became a third SF player to earn a spot at the section individual tournament in Roseville. Having reached the Delta League singles semifinal round on Monday, she took on Jeannie Zhang of Pleasant Grove in the third-place match Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, Zhou lost in a marathon of a match to open the day: losing 7-5 in the opener despite a 5-2 lead, winning 7-6 in the second, then falling 7-6 in the third with a 7-3 tiebreaker.
St. Francis returns to action as a team in the Sac-Joaquin Section team tourney, which starts on Monday. Pairings and brackets will be announced on the SJS website (cifsjs.org) on Thursday afternoon.
