For the first time in her tenure, Turlock High girls tennis head coach Linda Bejaran coached a league champion — but not just one. Maya Young and Izzy Romeo won the CCAL doubles tournament and freshman standout Hannah Mitka captured the CCAL singles title on Thursday from Modesto Junior College.
“They played awesome today, all three of them,” said Bejaran. “To have both singles and doubles that is a nice. Pretty big time. Turlock has been 12 years league champion, but this is the first time anybody has won league, any of my years, nobody has taken first, nobody has ever won.”
Singles kicked off on Tuesday as Mitka opened up the tournament with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Pitman’s Katrina Hawley. She then followed up with a 6-2, 6-1 win in the second round to set her up in the semifinal.
From there she won her semifinal match and earned a spot in the final against Enochs’ Brunia. Mitka won the final 6-3 and 6-2.
“It is impressive as a freshman but she really wants to play pro tennis and practices all the time. She has a tennis mentality and this is what she wants to do. (She’s) ff to good start,” said Bejaran.
In the double’s tournament on Thursday, Young and Romeo opened up taking on two Gregori teams in the first two rounds and won them, 6-4, 6-3 then followed with a 6-3, 6-3 win.
In the semifinal, Young and Romeo notched a 7-5, 6-1 win to earn a spot in the final.
In the final, they cruised through with ease, topping the third Gregori team in a 6-4, 6-3 win.
Young also captured the sportsmanship award for the league. All coaches vote for this.
Turlock advances to the Division-I Sac-Joaquin Section team playoffs and will open up on the road as a No. 9 seed against No. 8 Armijo at 2 p.m. Monday.