It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood as the Santa Ynez Pirates opened their girls tennis season with a win on their home courts Tuesday afternoon against the Nipomo Titans.
Sunny with a light breeze and temperatures in the mid 80s — nearly 20 degrees cooler than when the Pirates officially began fall practice on Aug. 7 — the Pirates breezed to a 14-4 non-league victory over the Titans.
“It may be cooler to them but for us it’s still hot,” said Nipomo head coach Teresa Downey. “Santa Ynez is tough but I think we got off to a good start. We identified several areas we have to work on but I’m very happy with how the girls played.”
“I’m pleased with the results,” said Santa Ynez head coach Jennifer Rasmussen. “It was nice weather. We had a good day. We were able to see where we have to improve. We missed some first serves, we had some double faults but these are things we can work on during the rest of the preseason.”
Nipomo is one of the area schools that moved to the Central Section this year and the Central section plays a different format in tennis.
The Central Section format calls for six singles sets and three doubles sets in which the opposing No. 1 singles players play only each other, the No. 1 doubles teams go against only each other, etc., in a best-of-three set format.
“But we were the home team,” said Rasmussen. “That means we play the Southern Section format.”
The Southern Section tennis format calls for three singles players and three doubles teams from opposing squads to play a total of nine one-set singles matches and nine one-set doubles matches in a round robin format.
Santa Ynez’s No. 1 singles player Claire Collison got the Pirates off to a strong start, winning the match’s opening set 6-3 over the Titans’ Sarah Hickenbottom.
The duo played a spirited set with several long volleys as both players kept the other scrambling.
Collison’s win set the tone for the rest of the afternoon and Collison went on to win her final two sets, 6-1 and 6-1.
Hickenbottom rebounded nicely from that opening set, winning her final two sets, 6-1 and 6-3 for two of the Titans’ four points.
But Santa Ynez otherwise dominated, going up 5-1 after the first round and 10-2 after the second.
When the Pirates’ No. 3 singles player Alexa Yacoub finished off a 6-3 win over Nipomo’s Taylor Kaiser to end the second round, it gave Santa Ynez its 10th set, wrapping up the team’s win.
“Claire and Alexa had some great sets in singles,” said Rasmussen. “And all of our doubles teams just played solid.”
Santa Ynez top doubles team — Lauren Thorburn and Emmy Withrow — swept the two sets they played, 6-0, 6-0. Subs Ella Quinney and Lexi Hemming came on for a 6-1 set win.
At No. 2 doubles, Alana Hinkins and Sophia Curti swept their three sets, 6-1, 6-1, 6-0.
Isabella Curti and Ella Christianson, at No. 3 doubles, won the two sets they played, 6-1, 6-1.
Kaiser picked up a point for the Titans with a 6-1 win over Taylor Bunderson.
Bunderson picked up a point for the Pirates with a 6-4 win over Nipomo’s Clarissa Simonson.
And No. 1 doubles Sadie Krier and Morgan Mirau picked up the Titans’ final point with a 6-3 set win in the final set of the day.
“It was a good start for us for our first preseason match as we get ready for the new Central Section league that we’re going to be in,” said Downey. “I think everybody played well. I liked the aggressive approach our doubles teams showed. Taylor served well and Sarah really picked up her pace — and we survived the heat.”
Nipomo has its home-opener Thursday when the Titans host the Lompoc Braves.
Santa Ynez has a home date Thursday against Orcutt Academy.
Girls Golf
Santa Ynez 271, Nipomo 323
Team captain Erinn Callaghan (48) edged teammate Morgan Blunt (49) to earn medalist honors in Santa Ynez’s victory over Nipomo at the Alisal River Course in Solvang.
The remaining Pirates were tightly bunched with Marina Vengel (57), Caelyn Linane (58) and Olivia Cortopassi (59) rounding out the Santa Ynez scoring.
Brooke Panzardi’s 53 led the Nipomo Titans, followed by Alexa Burdick (62), Irelinn Dalton (68), Lilly Brummit (69) and Leah Correal (71).
The Pirates (2-0) face Morro Bay Thursday at the Morro Bay Golf Club in the annual “Battle of the Pirates.”
Nipomo is on the road Thursday against San Luis Obispo at the San Luis Obispo Country Club.
The Santa Ynez Pirates’ football team hosts the Carpinteria Warriors Friday night at 7 p.m.
The series between the longtime rivals for the “Warrior Spirit Never Dies and Pirate Pride” award began in 1941.
This year, there will only be a varsity game played.
“Carpinteria doesn’t actually start school until next Monday so they couldn’t get all the students back to campus in time to field a junior varsity team,” said Santa Ynez Athletic Director Cris Avery during Tuesday’s Santa Ynez tennis match so we’ll only have the varsity game.”
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