By Rick Assad
In terms of matches played this campaign, the Burroughs High girls’ tennis team was outdistanced by more than two to one by Santa Fe on Wednesday afternoon.
This hardly mattered as the host Bears held off the Chiefs 10-8 in a CIF Southern Section Division V first-round playoff match that lasted three hours and wasn’t decided until the No. 1 doubles squad of senior Dana Pitsker and freshman Aayushi Mamtura turned in and claimed a 7-5 win in the third round and the No. 2 team of senior Saya Davidson and junior Lola Estrada won 6-3 in the same round.
Earlier in the marathon match, Pitsker/Mamtura went 6-0, 6-0 and picked up two more points and won three overall, and Davidson/Estrada went 4-6 and 4-6.
Joel Dacay is Burroughs’ first-year head coach and was duly impressed by what he saw.
“We approached the match as thankful to be a part of the competition. We knew we could play and felt we had something to prove,” he said. “We lost a few matches during the regular season which we thought we should’ve won, but we took today as a fresh start and went in and played as underdogs.”
Dacay added: “Our agenda for today was to have great energy and spread it out to our teammates on the court,” he said. “I’m super proud of our girls for leaving everything on the court. I believe this is our first time getting into the second round of the CIF playoffs. We’ll go into that match and go out there and have some fun and play great tennis and add it to our identity.”
Burroughs is now 5-4 overall and Santa Fe holds a 12-4-3 mark after the setback.
The Bears’ No. 1 singles player, sophomore Mia Chapman, went 6-3, 6-0 and 6-0 and was dominant and played like a No. 1.
“In the first set I was a little nervous because I didn’t know how my opponent was going to play and I let the preliminaries get into my head,” she said. “I meditated for about 10 minutes before the set because I didn’t want to mess up.”
Chapman went on: “In the first set I was confident, but I didn’t know how it was going to go. I wanted to keep my head on straight,” she added. “When I won, I was full of confidence in the second set and when I won that I was really confident in the third set.”
At No. 2 singles, Burroughs freshman Sasha Sierra, who came off the bench and finished 4-6, 4-6 and 6-0 while the No. 3 singles player for the Bears, sophomore Dhana Persad, ended her day at 6-4, 0-6, 1-6.
“Our regular No. 2 was out sick today, so we moved Sasha up who had a rough start losing her first two matches but was able to bounce back with a commanding 6-0 victory for her final set against Santa Fe’s No. 3 player, [senior Lezley Duque]” Dacay said.
Dacay also praised Persad for her fine effort.
“The biggest standout was our No. 3 [Persad], who lost all her matches during the regular season, and was a substitute today. She was our insurance match. If our No. 1 doubles team lost, we probably would’ve won by games at 9-9, but Dhana was our biggest hero today. She played in rhythm and had great energy out there today.”
Dacay added: “The final piece to our victory was all our doubles teams earning victories,” he stated. “Our No. 2 doubles team lost their first two sets by a close 4-6, 4-6 but was able to secure a set victory 6-3 which gave us the ninth point for the score to be 9-8 Burroughs.”
Dacay continued his thought: “The final was closed out by Captain Dana Pitsker and freshman Aayushi Mumtura who sealed the victory 7-5,” he noted. “That match was a seesaw battle. Dana/Aayushi were serving for the match at 5-3 before the Santa Fe team of [senior] Neveen [Calderon] and [senior] Breanna [Abrego] came back to tie it at 5-5. Aayushi made some adjustments to her forehand and played solidly. Dana ran and made some unbelievable hustle plays that won her and Aayushi those crucial points.”
The No. 3 doubles tandem of junior Bailey Roberston and junior Lucy Ashby went 6-2, 2-6 and 1-6 for the Bears.
