Doubles power leads to NorCal tennis title for MJC women

The Modesto Junior College women’s tennis team figured to be good this spring. But 16-0 good? Big 8-South Conference title good? Northern California championship good?

“I always believe, no matter what team I’m on, that we’ll win,” freshman Vanessa Teves said. “They’re like family to me.”

Family or not, the Pirates arguably exceeded all expectations by capturing the CCCAA Northern California team title Saturday with a hard-earned 5-2 victory over Fresno City. Parker Pilati’s 6-4, 6-4 singles victory clinched Modesto’s first NorCal women’s tennis title since 1988, before the current champions were born, and triggered a celebration on the MJC courts.

The Pirates will travel to meet Southern California champion Mt. San Antonio, a 5-2 winner over Glendale, for the state title Wednesday at noon at Ventura College.

“What’s impressed me the most is how hard they worked and continued to improve,” coach Milan Motroni said. “And, again, the doubles were the key.”

Spectators sought shade beneath umbrellas and awnings while many watched from behind the fences bordering the courts. It was an all-Big 8 final, and the stakes were high.

Saturday afternoon’s final began with three doubles matches, and Modesto – which has lost only one doubles encounter all season – swept. No. 1 doubles pair Chiara Adamo and Teves clinched their win while No. 3 tandem Rebekah Jacobson and Kristi Van Diver hugged and cheered two courts away.

Jacobson and Van Diver rallied from a 7-2 deficit to win 9-7 in what turned out to be the day’s pivotal point.

“We won two games, and then we won two more,” said Jacobson, who was still stunned by the comeback two hours later. “I don’t know how it happened.”

Modesto needed victories in only two of the six singles matches to clinch the title. It wasn’t easy, though the Pirates already owned twin 6-2 wins over Fresno. The Rams proved much tougher this time.

Pilati’s victory ended the competition, but the two remaining singles matches on the court were coin-flips: Teves dropped the first set and was a point away from a tiebreaker loss in the second set to Marifer Ochoa. Adamo, Modesto’s No. 2 singles, dropped a tiebreaker and geared for a third set against Marian Bogajo.

Which meant everything still could have swung toward the Rams. Pilati, a freshman and a member of the Pirates’ NorCal-champion golf team last fall, shut the door.

A crunching forehand volley drew a fist pump from Pilati and two championship points against Macy Elliott. Moments later, Elliott’s lob drifted long, and MJC’s party was underway.

“I knew Chiara had lost her tiebreaker, and I had to step up and win,” Pilati said. “I thought, ‘It’s hot. Get it done.’”

The unbeaten Pirates now sit a win away from a state title.

“I was so happy we got to NorCal finals,” sophomore Britney Leon said. “Now that we’re here, I want to win a state championship. I think we have the team to do it.”

This story was originally published April 18, 2015 at 11:13 PM with the headline "Doubles power leads to NorCal tennis title for MJC women."