12/1/08 – Pilots’ Playoff Participation Continues in Individual Tournament
Today marks the first
day of the L.A. C.I.F. City Section Individual Tournaments. In today’s action, all of the city’s
finest singles players take aim at the tournament championship. While the Pilots did boast some of the
best singles players in the Marine League, all of them decided to forego their opportunities in the singles tournament, to
focus on their chances in the doubles tournament, which begins on Wednesday. With over 160 doubles teams
from 55 schools city-wide, and only 56 spots available in the tournament, to simply be selected to participate is an honor.
The fact that the Pilots are sending 4 doubles tandems (8 players total) to the Doubles Championship Tournament is
quite an accomplishment.
As the draw was revealed, some interesting sub-plots developed. In the top half of
the doubles draw, The Pilots’ fourth doubles entry, Victoria Martinez & Sandra Medina are both making their first
appearance in the individual doubles playoffs. They will take on Christine Chica & Rhoda Zorilla of
North Hollywood. In 2006, during the Pilots’ first team playoff appearance in recent years, the Pilots
went down to the Huskies in the first round. It will be interesting to see how Martinez & Medina fare against them.
In another interesting
twist, the Pilots’ top doubles tandem seems to have a great chance of advancing. Veronica Trujillo
is making her third consecutive appearance, while Jasmin Jimenez is making her first. Together, they will
have a re-match vs. the very last opponents they played: Kaitlin Amorde & Rachel Ma of Venice. In their
first matchup during this year’s team semi-finals, Trujillo & Jimenez prevailed in a 7-6, 6-4 straight-set victory.
The match was very close throughout however, and certainly the Gondoliers will have revenge on their minds.
In the bottom half
of the draw, Cristina Alvarado & Diana Alvarado will take on one of Eagle Rock’s finest in Vanessa Faune & Tammy
Saychien. This is the second consecutive appearance by these twin sisters in the individual doubles tournament as they now
look to improve upon last year’s performance and advance past the first round.
Meanwhile, Norma Santamaria is also making her
second consecutive appearance in the tournament, and will use last year’s extremely close 1st round loss
as part of her inspiration for sure. Joining her will be first-timer Kathy Ngo as they face off vs. Jenny
Hu & Su Bin Sung, who helped Chatsworth win the team championship in the invitational tournament. Considering
that the Pilots were one match away from facing Chatsworth in that team championship, this will certainly be an interesting
matchup & will give some insight into how the team might have fared, had they advanced to that championship game.
Congratulations
on the selections & good luck on Wednesday, Pilots! J
