Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Turlock's Cusenza claims CCC singles title

Prep Tennis

ATWATER — Turlock High junior Elise Cusenza made sure there would be no upset Thursday.

Cusenza defeated Los Banos freshman Alexis Barcellos 6-2, 6-1. It was Cusenza's third win over Barcellos this season, and this one allowed Cusenza to claim the Central California Conference singles tennis title at Buhach Colony High School.

The news wasn't so good, however, for No. 2-seeded Turlock doubles pair Aubree Brenda and Kaitlyn Ireland. They were upset in the semifinals by unseeded Merced tandem Alexa Lawler and Janet Xu 7-6 (7-1), 2-6, 6-2.

"I didn't expect them to get by Brenda and Ireland. Those girls are very good doubles players," said Judy Douglas, in her 17th season as Merced coach. "But whenever they thought they had a winner, our girls would hit it back one more time."

The win set up an all-Merced showdown with Lizzie Sofranek and Stephanie Isenberg in the final, guaranteeing Merced both of the CCC's doubles entries into next week's Sac-Joaquin Section individual tournament.

Sofranek and Isenberg lived up to their billing as the tournament's top seed, pulling away from their teammates in the final match, 6-2, 6-3.

The postseason begins on Monday with the first round of the team tennis tournament.

Merced, the CCC runner-up, will travel to Modesto, the Modesto Metro Conference champion.

The individual tournament gets under way on Thursday at the In-Shape Sports Club on West Lane in Stockton.

The tournament will be seeded Thursday morning.

Lawler and Xu, though underdogs, belonged in the semifinals. The two were undefeated in doubles in the regular season last year and coasted through their first two matches Thursday.

They weren't expected, however, to beat Brenda and Ireland. The two Merced upstarts made it look convincing in the end, rebounding from a rough second for the win.