Troesch, Will win PAC 7 doubles title

San Luis Obispo High’s Tori Troesch and Abigail Will are PAC 7 champions again.

Only this time, they did it together.

After dominating the PAC 7 girls tennis singles scene from 2008-10, Troesch and Will won their first PAC 7 doubles title together Friday with a pair of victories on their home court.

Troesch and Will downed Tigers teammates India Hoffman and Darla Berkefeld 6-0, 6-0 in Friday’s semifinals and faced Righetti’s Annette Sousa and Laura Wong in the championship final after the Warriors’ duo downed Arroyo Grande’s Amber and Stephanie Domako 6-4, 6-0 in the semifinals.

In the final, Troesch and Will downed Sousa and Wong 6-1, 6-1.

Will won the PAC 7 singles titles in 2008 and 2009 before losing to Troesch in last year’s singles final. San Luis Obispo coach Gary Etheredge said it wasn’t a hard decision to put his two seniors in doubles this year, however.

“They’ve been to the CIF (Southern Section) the last few number of years and it’s always been difficult to get past that first tournament and first weekend because the competition is so tough,” Etheredge said. “Doubles gives us our best shot to go further and get into that second weekend.

“They’re the best of friends and I think they wanted their senior year to be special. I think they’ll really enjoy the (Southern Section) tournament more this way and have a have better chance to do something.”

While the doubles competition was a crowning achievement for Troesch and Will, the singles competition likely saw the dawning of a new age of girls tennis in the PAC 7.

Arroyo Grande freshman Sophie Whittle continued her domination of the singles this season by beating Pioneer Valley’s Caitlyn Brown 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals and then topping Atascadero’s Amber Petersen 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 in the final. Petersen advanced to the singles final with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win over Arroyo Grande’s Lauren Hayashi.

In the championship final, Whittle trailed Petersen 5-2, 40-15 in the first set before rallying to beat Petersen and run her record to 30-0 in PAC 7 matches.

“I was really proud of how Sophie came back in the first set to win,” Arroyo Grande coach Lori Hollister said.

CIF-Southern Section team competition will begin Tuesday with individual competition slated for later this month.