Norwalk, Cerritos girls tennis teams have successful runs in CIF
Norwalk’s Alexandra Mendez plays in the CIF Southern Section Girls Individual Tennis Regionals at the Lakewood Tennis Center on Monday. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
NORWALK – The girls’ tennis season may have just ended for both Norwalk and Cerritos high schools, but the success that both programs had this year was monumental.
A league title and a nice showing in the individuals and team competition capped off their years.
Norwalk won its first Suburban League championship since 2014 and both teams participated in the CIF-SS Individual Tennis Regionals this week.
Norwalk, which finished 12-7 overall and 7-1 in the Suburban League tied with Bellflower, qualified three entries in to the Regionals and Cerritos qualified its No. 2 doubles team.
As for the team events, Norwalk had two grueling matches that both ended in ties that went to tie breakers.
Cerritos, which finished second in the 605 League to Whitney, advanced all the way to the quarterfinals and lost in a tie-breaker.
Below is a summary of the two programs.
Norwalk Girls Tennis
Norwalk had one of its most successful seasons in years, as they won league, advanced to the second round in team competition in the CIF postseason for the first time since the 2016 season (as far as recent records go) and had five girls compete in the CIF Individuals.
The Lancers received the No. 1 Seed out of league due to a tie-breaker.
It was also the first time the Lancers advanced to the second round since the 2012 season.
Norwalk had two exciting matches in the first and second rounds that went the distance.
“The bar is really high now with our program,” third-year varsity Tennis coach Edgar Salazar said. “It’s super high. It’s bad and it’s good. One, that we can put the bar that high, and now it’s really that high. But, it’s more added pressure, especially next year since it will more than likely going to be a rebuilding year.”
Salazar, who has been helping out the tennis program since the 2017 season and became the head boys and girls coach in 2019, has nearly all seniors (10) on varsity. Only two juniors remain.
“The good thing is we have a lot of freshmen, a lot of sophomores and we’ll see in two years,” said Salazar, who is also the girls’ soccer coach since 2015. “The numbers (Tennis) are great actually.”
As for league, it was a big year for the Lancers.
“We finished one and two this year in doubles in league,” he added. “It’s never happened before.”
The No. 1 doubles team was Keile Escarcega/Amy Curiel with an amazing overall record of 43-3 overall and 22-2 in league. In league finals they were 4-0 and 5-1 in the playoffs and advanced to the CIF Individuals.
Escarcega/Curiel defeated the Bellflower doubles team in the league finals in two straight sets, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.
The No. 2 team of Subhneet Kaur/Pamela Zerda finished 41-10 and 21-2 and were 2-1 in league finals and 4-2 in playoffs. They are both seniors.
Previously, current JV head coach Priscilla Ayala (Norwalk class of 2019) and Kathy Cruz (2019) won the doubles league title in 2018.
The lone singles player to advance out of league to Individuals is senior Alexandra Mendez (45-8, 20-4), who finished second in league. She was 3-1 in league finals and 4-2 in playoffs.
Ironically, both doubles teams and one single were all playing at the same time in the CIF Regional Individuals, which were held Monday (Nov. 22) at the Lakewood Tennis Center.
“It’s a high-quality problem,” said Salazar (1995), who played baseball at Norwalk. “I’ll take those every day.”
Salazar, who has about 20 girls in the program, spends a lot of extra time individually with the girls working on their game. “You have to put in the time with each girl,” he said. “Otherwise, you’ll have some of them falling behind and the sport won’t be fun anymore and then they’re quitting. You gotta find time.”
Unfortunately, all three lost in the first round, but came away with an experience of a lifetime.
Subhneet Kaur/Pamela Zerda lost 6-3, 6-0 to La Serna, but both felt it culminated their four-year high school career.
“It was like something we never envisioned before,” Kaur said. “When I started playing tennis, I didn’t even know how to hit.
“I joined out of curiosity and suddenly it became more fun and I wanted to get more involved. Even though it’s over right now, there could be more opportunities in the future and I would love to still play tennis after high school. I don’t think it’s the end for any of us.”
Zerda, who started playing doubles with Subhneet last year, talked about playing in the Individuals.
“Stepping on the court I was shaking, but I couldn’t let Subhneet know that because then both of us would be shaking,” Zerda said. “I was just trying to motivate us and say, ‘okay, we got this’”.
The team of Escarcega/Curiel lost to Cerritos’ No.2 team of Anushka Panjwani/Tasha Kijbumrungslip, 6-2, 6-0, also in the first round.
“For Norwalk, we’re not really recognized for tennis, but this year we made history,” said Escarcega, who began playing tennis in her sophomore year. “It was really amazing to get to Individuals. There are no words to describe it, honestly. I believed in myself and my partner (Curiel). I felt we really worked well together.”
Team reaches CIF second round
The Lancers finished both the first and second round matches with identical 9-9 scores.
In the first round they faced Covina and won in the first tie-breaker, 74-69 games. “We faced a very tough Covina team,” Salazar said. Down, 9-7, Mendez (6-2) and Natalie Cornejo (6-3) won two matches to tie the set.
In the second round, Norwalk was leading, 7-5 in sets after two rounds, but dropped four of the next six and lost in a tie-breaker, 83-76.
2021 Norwalk Girls Tennis Team
Seniors: Keile Escarcega, Amy Curiel, Subhneet Kaur, Pamela Zerda, Alexandra Mendez, Natalie Cornejo (18-14, 13-7, 2-4), Patricia Delfin, Reianne Erana, Jasmin Herrera, Carla Ponce.
Juniors: Sarai Cruz (10-5 league, 3-3 playoffs), Ximena Ortega.
(Overall record, league record, playoff record)
What they said:
Amy Curiel, senior: “I was surprised at myself that I grew this far to make it to CIF. I still can’t believe it right now. I still see myself as the little freshman that’s not good at tennis. It feels amazing.”
Alexandra Mendez, senior: “It feels so overwhelming. Not a lot of people from Norwalk get to CIF. I’m so happy that my doubles team was here with me. We worked so hard from our freshman year and just fell in love with the sport.
It feels amazing to be rewarded in this way.”
2021 Cerritos Girls Tennis
Cerritos, which finished second in the 605 League to Whitney, was 7-3-1 overall and 4-2 in league.
The culmination for the team was a deep run in the CIF-SS D 4 team championships.
“Our CHS Girls Tennis team had good momentum and so much energy this season, right from the beginning and all the way to the last contest,” said second-year Cerritos Tennis coach Henry Ayesiga, who has been in the program for six years.
Ayesiga, who is originally from Uganda and moved to Kenya and played four years of tennis, reflected on the last year without competition and how it might have affected the girls.
“I assume after a year of being indoors at home, due to the pandemic and not playing as much the previous year, made all of our players really eager to get back to playing tennis,” Ayesiga said.
Ayesiga later moved to California and played two years of Tennis at Cerritos and finished up at Hope International University.
In the team CIF Championships, the team advanced all the way to the quarterfinals, losing to San Dimas. The teams were tied, 9-9, in sets and San Dimas won in a tie-breaker, 70-69, in games.
“We began as a wildcard coming into team competition in CIF,” Ayesiga said. “We then moved into the main draw (first round), and the girls showed great sportsmanship and fighting spirit throughout each game.
“I was pleased to see this as a coach and am proud of everyone’s accomplishments this season.”
The first round saw the Dons easily defeat Rim of the World, 15-3, and in the second round they dispatched Magnolia, 12-6.
In the quarterfinals, the team suffered a tight loss that ended in a tie and went to a tie-breaker and lost on games by a single point.
“Losing to San Dimas was not easy,” Ayesiga said. “Especially, after how close we were to winning. Most of our players knew it was going to be a difficult game, as evidenced by our 4-2 deficit in the first round.”
In the second round, Cerritos reversed the score and won, 4-2, to even things up at 6-6. “We showed a renewed fighting spirit and won to get us back in the fight,” Ayesiga said.
The teams won three games each, ending in a 9-9 tie, but San Dimas advanced to the semifinals with a one-game edge in games.
“Going to the quarters was super-exciting,” said Panjwani, who has been playing tennis since the age of 4 and a half. “One, I’m a senior and two, I’m one of the co-captains. Getting our team there, especially for the first time. We had a bit of a rocky time at the end there when Whitney won league.
“Now, to be here and represent our entire league is special.”
In the CIF Individual Tennis Regionals on Monday (Nov. 22), the Dons were represented by the No. 2 doubles team in the 605 League of Panjwani and Kijbumrungsilp.
Without a doubt, the top finisher to date for Cerritos in the Individuals was in 1981 and ’82 with singles champ Debbie Spence.
Panjwani and Kijbumrungslip won the first round over the Norwalk doubles team and then had a marathon round two, two-set tie-breaker that went so long that all of the rest of the competitors had already finished for the day.
“I was really stressed, because we were up 4-1 in the first set, then they kept catching up” said Kijbumrungslip, of the first set. “I just tried to keep it consistent and wait for them to make a mistake.
“I was relieved,” said Kijbumrungslip, of the long match. “That was a really long match.”
Panjwani echoed her partners relief of the draining match. “I was in shock. Okay, we just won. It took me a second to process the match.”
In the opening set, they had a 4-1 lead in games, but their opponent, Le Lycee of Los Angeles, came back and won 6-4 for the 1-0 lead.
In the second set, it went back-and-forth, with the Cerritos duo ending the 10th game of the set with nine-point rally to win, 6-4 and even the match 1-1.
The tie-breaker was the first one to 15 and again, it was another marathon match, with Kijbumrungslip ending the match with a short drop-over shot to send the duo to round three.
The winner of the next match would head to next weeks’ championships.
However, the ride ended against Esperanza’s duo defeating the Cerritos pair, 6-0, 6-2.
“Coming in, there was little expectations and I think what ended up happening was the girls had their nerves eased and just went in there and just played,” Ayesiga said. “In the process, they got a lot of experience and I think we have a lot from this experience.
“In a single day, I’ve seen a lot of stuff that would normally take, I don’t know, five weeks. All happening in one day.”
Ayesiga reflected on the long season that had just come to an end.
“As a whole, it was a great season,” Ayesiga said. “All of the players felt as though they improved greatly this year and most importantly had fun, and those returning can’t wait to compete next year.”
2021 Cerritos Girls Tennis Team
Standout Singles Players
1 - Riley Flick, Jr. - League (28-6), 3rd in league
2 - Abigail Yoo, Sr. - League (28-6), 4th place
3 - Archisha Verma, Sr. – League (22-8)
4 - Hannah Young, SO - Overall league record: N/A
Standout Doubles Players
1 - Sina Mengistu, Sr./Lana Kijbumrungsilp, Jr. - League (23-8)
2 - Anushka Panjwani, Sr./Tasha Kijbumrungsilp, Jr. – League (27-7) 2nd place
3 - Kaelyn D’Oyen, Jr./Aubrey Tran, Jr. - League (21-9)
4 - Sanjana Gupta, Sr./Elise Chung, Sr. - League record: N/A