SLO High girls tennis wins back-to-back CIF section title bid in dramatic fashion
After being two points away from losing in a CIF-Central Section Divison 1 final, the San Luis Obispo High girls tennis team found a way to bounce back in the nick of time to celebrate around a freshman hero.
The No. 2 Tigers (19-1) beat No. 1 Liberty High of Bakersfield 5-4 in combined singles and doubles scoring, and had to fight through some early adversity to persevere in the Nov. 12 championship on the road.
For the second year in a row, SLO is the CIF Central Section Division 1 champion after winning for the first time in school history last year.
The Tigers, who won the Mountain League in the regular season with only one loss to Arroyo Grande, were set to move on to the CIF USTA Southern California Regional Tennis Championships on Friday Nov. 22, in Claremont.
In the section final, SLO found itself looking to freshman Scarlet Mellinger, who secured a singles win to give the Tigers a narrow victory, in the deciding match.
The Tigers were hoping to go up 3-0 in doubles with their strongest players, seniors Marley and Audrey Conover, to open the title competition versus Liberty, said SLO Coach Michelle Heidbrink. But the typically dominating doubles team (who are two of a trio of Conover triplets) was upset early, and the Tigers found themselves down 1-2 after three matches in team play to start the championship.
Audrey has committed to play at East Stroudsburg in Pennsylvania (a Division 2 program) and Marley has committed to Daemen University in New York (also a Division 2 program).
“We had a big team meeting between doubles and singles and reminded the girls that I didn’t care if we won or lost, but did care about their heart and fight and attitude on the court,” Heidbrink said. “And I reminded them to leave nothing behind, knowing if we did that we could leave proud no matter the outcome.”
In the second half of the match, SLO needed to win four matches for the title.
“Right away, we went up on three matches and down on three matches,” Heidbrink said. “Singles players (the Tigers’ No. 3 Natalie Testerman and No. 5 Sedona Bitler), who also won in doubles, battled and got wins in singles fairly quickly, while we lost at No. 1 and No. 4 leaving No. 2 and No. 6 to decide the match as we were 3-4 down at that point.”
Playing in the No. 2 singles match, Audrey Conover lost the first set in a tiebreaker, then went up in the second, Heidbrink said. But Conover lost her second set lead and was two points from losing the match (which meant the Tigers would have lost the title) at 5-6 down, Heidbrink said.
“Audrey battled to win that game and went to a second set tiebreaker, which she won,” Heidbrink said. “Then she had to go straight into a 10-point tiebreaker for the third set, which she also won.”
With Audrey’s win, it tied the score at 4-4 and left it up to the final match at No. 6 being played by Mellinger.
“Scarlet had won the first set but dropped the second set and started her 10-point tie breaker just as Audrey was finishing hers,” Heidbrink said. “Of course, everyone was around her court watching intently. ... She clinched the match like a pro, like she had done it before — no signs of nerves or anything, she had given herself a nice lead and had a good cushion in case she needed it.”
Heidbrink said after Mellinger’s victory, the entire team celebrated on Mellinger’s court.
“We also emphasized all season that every player on this team is important and plays a role and no one is defined by wins or losses or their number on the roster,” Heidbrink said. “Once we realized we needed to want it more for our teammates than ourselves, you could see the team meld together through the match. Shoutout to some of our parents who took the trek out to support at Liberty.”
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 9:08 PM.
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