By ARTHUR HSIEH It was the meeting of the undefeated-in-league Maranatha Lady Minutemen and the winless-in-league Warriors of Heritage Christian. The match went as one would expect. Maranatha’s singles line-up of Angela Hsieh, Malena Smith, and Aria Haver-Hill swept mercilessly, winning every set, 6-0. The doubles line-up nearly swept as well, until Rose Zhang pulled […]
By ARTHUR HSIEH
It was the meeting of the undefeated-in-league Maranatha Lady Minutemen and the winless-in-league Warriors of Heritage Christian. The match went as one would expect. Maranatha’s singles line-up of Angela Hsieh, Malena Smith, and Aria Haver-Hill swept mercilessly, winning every set, 6-0.
The doubles line-up nearly swept as well, until Rose Zhang pulled a muscle in her lower back at the beginning of the final set, forcing her and her partner, Reagan Atallah , forfeit. They had won their sets, 6-3, 6-3, prior to the forfeit.
#1 doubles, Maddie Hernandez and Michael Wilkins cruised, sweeping 6-0, 6-2, 6-1, while #2 doubles, Hellen Hong and Stella Wang, had the set of the day, playing HC’s #1 doubles neck and neck the entire set, as most games went to deuce. Showing resiliency and fortitude, Hong and Wang fought off a match point at 4-5, 30-40, to win the game and tie things up at 5-5. Going down, 5-6, they fought back once again to force a 6-6 tie-break. They had 3 consecutive match points against them as they were on the wrong side of the 3-6 score. After tying the score at 6-6, they promptly went down 6-7 with another match point against them. They faced yet another match point at 8-9 before stringing another 3 consecutive point run and coming away with a come-from-behind victory, 7-6(9). Hong and Wang won their other two sets, 6-2, 6-0.
This officially completes the first of 3 rounds of Olympic League play, with the standings as follows:
Maranatha (3-0)
Valley Christian (2-1)
Whittier Christian (1-2)
Heritage Christian (0-3)
Singles aces, Angela Hsieh and Malena Smith, remain undefeated in league with a perfect 9-0 mark. Aria Haver-Hill remains in the hunt for an upper-half seed in the season-ending league tourney with a 5-3 record.
Doubles aces, Maddie Hernandez/Michael Wilkins and Hellen Hong/Stella Wang, also remain undefeated with a perfect 9-0 mark. Reagan Atallah/Rose Zhang are right on their heels with a 7-2 record (including today’s forfeit).
Next up for the Lady MInutemen is the second place Valley Christian Crusaders on Tuesday, Oct. 3.
