Huntington Beach, CA — JSerra = Tournament CHAMPIONS !!! It’s been many moons since our girls varsity teams dominated the Sage Hill Prep Invitational for 4-5 years running (they quit inviting us!). Other than that, no tennis team, boys or girls, any level - varsity subs, JV or Frosh / Soph - has won a multi-team, early season tournament like the Pete Brown First Serve Tourney or Edison’s Beach Bash Tournament. After tying Edison 3-3 in the opening round and losing 32-44 on game count, the CRIMSON travel squad “crushed it” per Coach Jena. They defeated both the other 2 opponents 5-1 sets played. Set totals was the format and JSerra was so far ahead in sets won, they didn’t even play the finals round! Addressing the dual mini-match vs Edison, we took 3 of 4 sets in doubles: Florence Michael and Maddie Tran, Rilee Lawrence and Olivia Frazier, Emily Volk and Milan Jepsen - congrats, well played. We won 2 of 3 tie-breaker sets in this dual match, 4 of 5 for the whole tournament, which is a great trend. We also dominated doubles which shows our depth, strength and dedication to doubles strategy and development. Strong doubles lead to league and CIF championships and rings. Overall Tournament Notes. Tournament MVPs for us: Maddie, Flo, Emily Volk, winning all 3 sets played today. Winning 2 for 2, MVP honors as well go to Milan Jepsen, Olivia Frazier, Emma Withycombe, and Josie Andersen. The original tournament format called for a final round to determine 1 vs 2 and 3 vs 4. However, JSerra was so far ahead on set count over the 3 other teams, the tournament director called it a day, naming us the Champs. Notes from Coach Jena when I asked any special mentions: “ALL OF THEM!!! It such a great team effort! Rilee playing singles for the first time ever was awesome. Maddie and Flo were clutch in both singles and dubs! Olivia and Gabby served so well!!! Net monsters were Emily, Josie and Leona. Lucy ran down ever ball! So good! Every girl was locked in! Every girl was excited to be there and played with so much heart! Milan was a great fill in captain! Emily stepped in to pray. Parents were great! The snacks were awesome! Miranda brought delicious sandwiches!!!” In between the lines from my (Coach Keith) perspective reading the score sheets, I see that we won almost every tie-breaker which must have created an exciting atmosphere and very good tennis viewing for our parents and fan base. I also see some dominance in doubles, and looks like players were holding serve. Very good stuff. It’s rewarding to see all the hard work start to pay off and to see this young team start to gel and play well together. Recaps of mini-matches vs La Quinta and Sage Hill to follow under their own match highlights. Congratulations Champions!