Vanden High edges Vacaville again
Vikings are now 6-0 in MEL play
Vanden High girls tennis player Maya Khanna said after her 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Vacaville’s Katelyn Crismon in the No. 2 singles match on Wednesday afternoon at Vacaville High that she was glad she didn’t know her match was the deciding one in Vanden’s 5-4 victory.
All the other matches had ended and all eyes were on the Khanna-Crismon battle. Crismon, who had trailed 5-2 in the third set, fought back to tie things up at 5-5. But Khanna found the resolve to win the last two games to take the set and match.
Khanna, who admitted to some nerves before and during the match, said “I would not have had a good time” if the last set had gone to a tiebreaker. She avenged a three-set loss to Crismon in the first match between these two teams, also won by Vanden 5-4.
“I kind of just had a mindset where I didn’t want to lose,” Khanna said.
Vanden is now 6-0 in the Monticello Empire League, while Vacaville fell to 3-3.
“Maya’s game has definitely come along,” said Vanden coach Rick Vaiuso of his junior, who moved up from No. 5 singles to No. 2 this year. “She hits a clean ball, an effortless ball. She generates power. She’s an all-court player.”
Khanna and Crismon have been playing against each other since they were very young and they know each other’s game. Crismon possesses a devastating serve; Khanna always seems to
hit the sweet spot on the racket and her returns are deceptively fast.
“I told her in the first set when she was down 0-3, this is going to be more of a mental game,” Vaiuso said. “You just have to stay in mentally from beginning to end.”
The team result was not decided till the very end of the cold and windy afternoon in a match played without spectators. Parents and fans watched from their cars.
“This was definitely a nail-biter,” said Vaiuso. “Within the last 15 minutes of the match we were down two matches to four. We needed to pull out the last three.”
Those three were the No. 1 doubles match, which Vanden’s Maritz GarciaJeanelle Delacruz won in three sets, the last by tiebreaker, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (75),
the No. 5 singles won by Vanden’s Paige VanPelt over Victoria Silva, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, and Khanna’s three-set win.
“My heart is still beating 100 miles an hour,” said Vaiuso after the match. “It was definitely one of the most exciting matches that we have played.”
VanPelt avenged a three-set defeat to Silva in their first meeting this year.
Vacaville’s Jordan Salyer-Gummoe and Alyssa Jaurique won the No. 2 doubles match, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, and the Bulldogs’ Gabriella Camilla and Angelina Escano took No. 3 doubles, 6-2, 6-2.
“I thought our doubles played amazing,” said Vacaville coach Ava Ascher. “I think all the girls that played the third sets really dug deep and hung in there. The wind picked up a little bit and kind of gets in your head a little bit.”
Vanden’s other wins came from Delaney Ramsell
at No. 3 singles, 6-0, 6-1, and Camille Arca at No. 6 singles, 6-2, 6-3.
Stephanie Esquivel got a win for Vacaville at No. 4 singles, 6-4, 6-4, and her teammate Nia Macay won at No. 1 singles, a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Sasha Smith.
“Sasha is a good player,” said Macay of her fellow sophomore. “She knows how to hit the ball hard and she’s good at making every ball count and over the net. So I don’t want to overpower the ball and make more unforced errors.”
Macay said she employs a style of controlled aggression. That showed especially in some of the long points.
“Long points come down to conditioning and wanting it more than the person across from you,” said Macay, who feels her game has improved from her excellent freshman campaign.
“I wasn’t very confident in my game and I
didn’t know how to perform under pressure,” she said. “Now I have found the drive to play.”
Like all of the girls, she is very happy to be back on the courts after a layoff of almost a year and a half.
“It was very exciting,” she said. “Once we started practicing it felt like normal again because I was out here competing and seeing my friends.”
And the action at this match did not disappoint.
“Vacaville High fought hard,” said Vaiuso. “They gave us one of our most challenging battles. It was expected because the first time it was also a 5-4 win with a lot of threesetters. There were a lot of three setters this time as well. It could have easily been 2-7. We got the three that we needed to pull it out. It was a fun match from beginning to end.”