Faith Lutheran girls edge South Tahoe, to meet Meadows for title

Faith Lutheran's girls tennis team's trip to the state tournament nearly was a short one.

Enter Vanessa Lee. And Kathleen Wright. And Lexi Cubley.

The Crusaders trailed Northern Region champion South Tahoe 7-5 entering the final round but clawed back to claim a 10-9 win over the Vikings (8-3) in the Division I-A girls semifinals at the Reno Tennis Center.

"It was incredible. The girls fought so hard," said Faith Lutheran coach Jeff Foley, whose team advanced to its first state final and will face The Meadows (16-1) at noon today.

Lee's match was the last to end as she eventually pulled out a 7-6 (4) win over South Tahoe's Natalie Allen to square the match and force an extra round.

Wright and Cubley, who both lost to their tiebreaker opponent in the opening round, pulled out narrow wins seconds apart to give Faith Lutheran the victory. Had either lost her tiebreaker, the Crusaders (17-3) would have lost the match on total tiebreaker points.

Lee also secured her tiebreaker, as did the Crusaders' doubles team of Stacie Graham and Sarah Escoto.

Rachel Taber and Chandler Young were 3-0 in doubles for the Crusaders.

■ The Meadows 12, Incline 0 - All that could stop The Meadows was darkness.

The Mustangs dropped only nine games en route to an easy win over the Highlanders (5-7) and a berth in the final. The match was halted because of darkness.

Erika Mauban, Anjali Daulat and Bhavana Janga swept the six singles sets. The doubles teams of Taler Brazell and Samantha Gondy, Amanda Brazell and Ava Frazier, and Shaleni Shah and Shayley Shimkus each went 2-0.

BOYS

Clark's boys barely broke a sweat.

The Chargers blitzed to an 18-0 victory over South Tahoe. Clark (17-1) will meet Truckee (10-2) for the title at 9 a.m. today.

Bidding for their first state title since 1979, the Chargers won 12 of the 18 sets by 6-0 or 6-1 scores.

Miko Pasimio, Joseph Maalouf and Deric Pang all went 3-0 in singles for Clark.

■ Truckee 11, The Meadows 7 - Evan Roth and Mario Gamboa did all they could for The Meadows.

Roth and Gamboa each went 3-0 in singles, accounting for all but one of the Mustangs' points, as Truckee used its depth to prevail.

Gamboa surrendered only four games in three sets, and Roth dropped just five, but the Mustangs (12-5) struggled in the other four positions.