Capital sending its first girl to state tourney in 22 years
Capital’s Sorensen wins tough second set, then match to qualify for state tournament next week
Ishara Sorensen found inspiration Friday afternoon in facing the finality of high school.
The Capital senior stared the ending of her prep athletic career — one that involved playing volleyball, basketball and tennis — in the face not once, not twice and not even three times. Try four. And she survived.
When she stepped off Court No. 3 at Capital High School a few minutes after staving off four match points against Albuquerque Academy’s Catie Lacey in the quarterfinals of the District 2-5A individual tennis tournament, Sorensen grasped the reality of what she had done.
“Comeback of the century,” Sorensen said.
Granted, she might have exaggerated the significance of it, but forgive her for fighting to compete for another week.
It certainly was the comeback of the tournament. Sorensen shook off the weight of history and expectations to upend Lacey in a physically and emotionally draining 1-6, 7-6 (10), 6-1 win to advance to the 2-5A semifinals. Sorensen, the fourth seed in the singles draw, faces No. 2 Anna Lemke of Los Alamos at 9 a.m. Saturday for a spot in the singles championship.
More important, though, she secured a spot in the Class 5A State Individual Tennis Championships next week in Albuquerque, becoming the first girls player at Capital to reach the postseason tournament since 1996.
Jaguars head coach Patrick Tolen played with the doubles teammates who achieved that feat 22 years ago.
Because of that state tournament drought, Sorensen felt the pressure that built through the season as the No. 1 player on the roster. It led to a lackluster opening set, and she quickly fell behind 5-0 to Lacey, who used her return game to grind out points and force Sorensen into errors.
It didn’t help that her match had a crowd, with the media, former Capital tennis player and current assistant boys basketball coach Bryan Mirabal and assistant tennis coach Bruce Cottrell’s wife watching intently.
“That first set, I felt extremely under pressure,” Sorensen said. “I felt like the whole world was watching me.”
Tolen tried to diffuse the atmosphere by getting Sorensen to focus on why she played tennis.
“I said, ‘Hey, go out there and hit the ball and have fun,’ ” Tolen said. “‘You’re playing tight. You’re pushing everything. You’re hitting it long. Just go out there, let it go and just have fun. This is your senior year, this is it for you. Make it worth your while and just relax.’ ”
Sorensen mentally hit the reset button for the second set as Lacey slowly began to unravel. When Sorensen broke Lacey’s serve in
the second game to even the set at 1-all, Lacey started muttering and admonishing herself after almost every mistake.
As the two traded games leading to the pivotal tiebreaker, Sorensen heard Lacey more and more.
“[Cottrell] was saying, ‘If you get her down, she’s gonna start talking more and more to herself,’ ” Sorensen said. “‘Just know she’s not talking to you.’ ”
Up 6-5, Lacey was two points away from beating Sorensen, but she sailed a forehand into the net and Sorensen followed up with a drop shot to take a 30-40 edge and then the game to force the tiebreaker.
Lacey battled back from a 3-0 deficit and had Sorensen down 6-4 with two match points. Sorensen staved them off with an overhead smash and a long rally that produced a Lacey shot into the net.
“Once we got to the tiebreaker, I knew I was going to win,” Sorensen said.
Even when she was down 6-4?
“I wasn’t going down,” Sorensen said. “This was my game.”
Sorensen slammed a forehand into the net for a third match point for Lacey, but a forehand winner past Lacey made it 7-all. Sorensen then sailed a shot long but Lacey gave her fourth match point back when she lofted a forehand into the net.
Sorensen needed three tries to win the set, but she finally did with another smash volley that Lacey couldn’t chase down.
Even as the two split the first two games of the third set, momentum was clearly in Sorensen’s favor, and she won the final five games.
While Sorensen extended her tennis season and her prep career by another week, she isn’t willing to just rest on that heading into the semifinals.
“At this point, you’re here, so just have fun,” Sorensen said. “Don’t put so much pressure on yourself, and just be ready to play.”
After all, there is next week to finally say “farewell” to a phase of her childhood.