Green Valley girls’ tennis snags regional championship

Jummel Hidrosollo / Special to the Home News

Caroline Engs of Bishop Gorman lines up a forehand against Palo Verde in a doubles match during the Sunset regional tournament at the Darling Tennis Center on Friday.

By Sean Ammerman (contact)

Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008 | 2:17 a.m.

Daron Willer missed Green Valley High's homecoming parade to play in the Sunrise Regional tennis finals Friday night, but her team's win against Silverado made it worthwhile.

"It was a big deal for me (to miss the parade) because I worked on the float, and I was in charge of everything," said Willer, Green Valley's senior class president.

Her teammates, however, were glad she was on the tennis court. Willer's 7-4 upset win against Silverado's Ashley Newell in the fourth-round tiebreaker sealed Green Valley's 10-9 victory.

Defending boys' regional champions Coronado, meanwhile, continued their dominance by defeating Foothill 16-2 in the Sunrise Region finals.

"For how windy the conditions were today, every one of our guys played their game," Coronado coach Luther Bohanan said. "We kept the ball in play and let them make all the mistakes."

In the girls' finals, Green Valley and Silverado finished the three rounds of regulation play tied 9-9, forcing a fourth round that pitted all three singles and doubles opponents in a seven-point tiebreaker.

Willer had lost 6-2 to Newell in the first round. "I learned her weaknesses and tried to use them against her," Willer said. "I just kept hitting to her backhand every time."

Green Valley's Sydney Bogatz won her singles tiebreaker, 7-2. The Gators' doubles teams of Narissa Montero and Gabby Friday won their tiebreaker 7-1, while Danielle Efargan and Kayla Thomas won theirs, 8-6.

The Gators came into the matchup as a No. 3 seed and underdog to No. 2 seed Silverado (11-2). They will face either Northern Nevada's Galena or Reno in the state semifinals in Carson City on Oct. 23.

"We didn't feel like underdogs," Green Valley coach Holly Basinger said. "I don't think the rest of the community knew how good my girls were, but I knew from the first day of practice that we were deep."

Silverado was led by Kristen Santero, which went 3-0 in singles, and the doubles team of Nicole Santero and Gianna Strong, who went 3-0.

"Green Valley is just a good all-around team," Silverado coach Mark Parantala said. "They won it because they were the best tonight."

In the boys' finals, Foothill (10-2) struggled to match the consistency of Coronado's top three singles players — Matt Gapultos, Marc Feldman and Brian Foley — who all went 2-0 for the day.

Coronado (12-2) put in its second-string players in the third round of play.

Coronado's Matt Dees, who went 2-0 on the day with doubles partner Elliot King, said his team is going into the state tournament playing its best tennis of the season.

"I felt like we all worked together to win," Dees said. "Even though we all played individually, I feel like we played as a team more than ever."

Foothill advanced to the region finals for the first time in the school's nine-year history. Both of its losses this season came to Coronado.

"I give credit to Coronado," Foothill coach Mark Richards said. "They are very deep and show how far we have to go if we want to advance to the state tournament."

Coronado will be going for their first state title when it faces either Bishop Manogue or Reno in the state semifinals.

In the boys' Sunset Regional finals, Bonanza beat Palo Verde in a tiebreaker to advance to the state semifinals. On the girls' side in the Sunset Region, Bishop Gorman beat Palo Verde 13-5 in the championship match and advances to the state semifinals.

Sean Ammerman can be reached at 990-2661 or sean.ammerman@hbcpub.com.