Marissa Tate had quite the celebration for her 18th birthday. She and her Lady Broncs tennis teammates traveled to Bishop for the HDL Finals on Oct. 24. She came home with a singles championship present.
The Lady Broncs had Tate, and Karsyn Liske in the singles brackets, while the doubles teams consisted of Elizabeth Davis and Summer Santos along with the team of Kyra Flint and Abby Phillips. The four Lady Broncs set their sights on being crowned a league champion.
Tate opened the finals with a convincing victory over her Rosamond opponent. She took the first set 6-0 and followed with a 6-4 win to advance to the semi-finals. Up next a Bishop player stood in her way to make it to the finals. Tate would dispatch this opponent in identical 6-3 set wins to move on. She now waited for her individual singles, final opponent.
Meanwhile, Liske also was making her way through the brackets. Liske had to battle in the quarterfinals against her Desert adversary. She was able to win the first set 6-3, but dropped the next set 2-6. This sent the match to a tiebreaker. Needing 10 points to move on, Liske see-sawed her way to the 10-8 win. After the grueling battle, Liske now had to face off against Bishop’s No. 1 player. Bishop’s player would prove no adversary for Loske as she sent her packing with a two-set win. She took the first set 6-3 and won the second 6-2.
The all, Kern Valley singles final was set. Tate and Liske would square off to see who was the HDL singles champion. Tate would not be denied her champion present. She bested her teammate by identical 6-0 set scores to claim the HDL singles crown and make it a two-fold celebration.
The doubles competition was not so favorable for Kern Valley. Flint and Phillips were able to make it out of the first round, but were ousted in the semi-finals. They took their victory over the Rosamond player 6-0 and 6-0. They moved on to take on the tough Desert doubles team. The first set was sent to a tiebreaker. They lost in the tiebreaker 8-10. The first set went to the Lady Scorpions 6-7. They never recovered and dropped the second set 1-6. The team of Davis and Santos faced off with Bishop’s No. 1 doubles team. They would fall in straight sets 0-6 and 2-6.
With league play in the books, the Lady Broncs were set to compete in the CIF team playoffs. They were seeded 14th and were set to take on the No. 3 seeded Fresno Christians squad. Kern Valley was swept in the team competition and their season was complete. The individual season for Tate and Liske will continue as they are set to compete in the singles competition on Nov. 8 and 9 in Wasco.
Tate crowned HDL singles champ on her birthday
