Lancaster’s spectacular season comes to end
RIVERSIDE — The Lancaster girls tennis team’s historic season came to a close on Monday afternoon as the Eagles lost to Hillcrest 12-6 in the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 quarterfinals.
It is the furthest the Eagles have ever gotten in the playoffs, winning a first-round game for the first time last week.
Lancaster also defeated Quartz Hill for the first time this season and went undefeated in Golden League play for the first time to win its first league title.
The quarterfinals had the No. 7 Eagles match up against the No. 2 Trojans.
Lancaster lost five close matches that could have gone the other way.
Senior Kaelin Vasquez and junior Belen Rodriguez were victims of two 6-4 losses, but also won a 6-4 set at No. 3 doubles for the Eagles.
Lucy Chaney and Jacky Obregon won a 7-5 set at No. 2 doubles, but also lost a 6-4 set and No. 1 Amy Park and Sara Stringfield won a 6-0 set, but lost a tiebreaker, 7-6 (2).
Lancaster No. 1 singles player Cleo Wang swept all three of her sets at 6-0. Ashley Kwak lost a 7-5 set at No. 2 singles.
It was a competitive match for the Eagles’ first time getting this far.
“It was, undoubtedly, a tough loss, but, all-in-all, my girls came in with high energy and confidence, which is all I always ask of them,” Lancaster coach David Garcia said. “There were many matches that could have gone the other way, but that’s how the game goes sometimes. My hat goes off to Hillcrest. They played great tennis and came out strong from the beginning.”
The Eagles got down early,
4-2, after the first round, but kept fighting for wins.
“We started a bit slow and it became hard to come back,” Garcia said. “Nevertheless, I am satisfied with the quality of tennis from my girls this season and I’m glad we were able to make a statement in the AV,
but also out of the Valley.
“I’m excited for the future of this program. We are only getting started.”
Wang and Vasquez and Rodriguez aren’t quite done yet as they will compete in CIF-Southern Section Individuals on Nov. 21.