Central Catholic tops Los Banos in Sac-Joaquin Section girls tennis semifinal

Central Catholic’s Anna Ballatore had been playing tennis for nearly three hours against Los Banos’ Taylor Torongo in the No. 2 singles match.

She knew the score, not only of her match but the team score in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III semifinal between the onetime league rivals.

When the Raiders’ freshman finally put away Torongo in the third set, Central Catholic clinched the fifth and deciding victory in a 6-3 win over the Tigers on Tuesday at Del Rio Country Club.

“I like to have pressure on me,” said Ballatore, who dropped the first set in a tiebreaker (7-4) before winning the next two sets 6-4, 6-2. “I knew they had won first singles, so I had to win my match. There was no other option.”

Central Catholic advances to play River City-West Sacramento in a rematch of last year’s D-III final, which the Raiders won 5-4.

“We know we’re going to have to bring it,” said Central Catholic coach Christy Perez, the former Christy Pohl, a 1988 CC grad who is one of two girls in Sac-Joaquin Section history to win four consecutive singles titles (1984-87). “My girls want to prove last year was not just a fluke.”

Los Banos grabbed the early momentum Tuesday when Shirley Liu came from behind to beat Amie Ardis in the first set of the No. 1 singles match, and eventually took the match 7-5, 6-2.

With Ardis serving for the first set up 5-4 and the score tied 15-15 in the 10th game, a disputed line call went against the Raiders’ top player, putting her down 15-30. Though she mildly protested, it seemed to throw her off her game. Liu would break her in the 10th game, hold to go up 6-5 and then break her again to take the set.

“It stuck in my head and made me pretty mad,” said Ardis, the Valley Oak League singles champion. “I tried to forget about it … but it was tough to lose a point I thought was in.”

Liu, who said she sensed Ardis’ frustration, had no choice but to capitalize.

“I feel bad about it,” said Liu, the Western Athletic Conference champ who helped Los Banos to its 72nd consecutive league victory, some of those coming over the Raiders before they departed the WAC. “I didn’t mean to have that happen.”

The momentum didn’t last long for the Tigers. Central Catholic soon tied the match 2-2 with five matches still in play. All were competitive, but the Raiders brought home victories in four of them.

“It’s always disappointing when you lose,” said Los Banos coach Lynn Barcellos, the former Lynn Henderson, who won two singles titles at Grace Davis (1980-81), another with Manteca (1983) and almost assuredly would have won a fourth if she didn’t have to sit out her junior year due to the transfer rule. “I’m losing a good group of seniors, and I feel worse for them. We knew it was going to be close.”

Ardis and Liu battled on court No. 2, about 50 feet from where Del Rio’s Director of Tennis, Mark Weir, was putting a half-dozen kids through drills while the matches played out.

Weir, who will celebrate his 40th year at Del Rio in February, was the coach for Perez and Barcellos when they were junior players.

“It’s fun to see what they’ve done and where their careers have taken them,” Weir said. “They were two of the best the Valley’s produced.”

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 8:32 PM with the headline "Central Catholic tops Los Banos in Sac-Joaquin Section girls tennis semifinal."