Very few teams have had as successful of a season as the 2015 Pitman High girls tennis team.
Already with a prestigious program like Turlock in league, which has dominated the Central California Conference over the last decade, Pitman’s resurgence to the top was evident this season. Although they could not dethrone Turlock, the Pride put up an impressive 8-2 CCC posting.
The success continued on Tuesday, as Pitman secured an 8-1 win against Franklin of Stockton in the first round of Division I CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.
“The girls came out and played really hard,” said Pitman head coach Doug Reimers. “A fantastic season and I could not have asked for a better bunch of ladies. I've been proud of them from day one and it’s been a great team atmosphere and the kids did great.”
Tuesday’s match was scheduled for Monday but Mother Nature had other things in mind and so the match was postponed a day.
That was no problem for Pitman, which came out and defeated Franklin from the onset after going up 6-1 after seven matches.
Of the team’s six singles matches, the Pride won five of them, including four in straight sets.
The only loss for the day was at the number three singles spot. Other than that, the Pride dominated the doubles as well; handling all doubles wins in straight sets.
“Our singles were amazing and our doubles just came out and took care of business,” said Reimers. “They all had very strong matches, including Abi [Wilson] and Yen [Luu].”
Wilson played a great match, edging out Isela Pena 6-0, 6-2. Luu won her match over Annalisa Manabat 6-2, 6-3.
“Our girls took control of the game,” said Reimers. “But honestly I could not have done any of this without my assistant Beth Acosta, she has always been fantastic helping the kids through injuries or dealing with mental struggles on court; it’s been a fantastic season, now on to Goliath.”
Pitman’s next round match will be against a top team in Rocklin High at 2 p.m. today.
“They [Rocklin] are a great program athletically and their coach, Dale, is a fantastic gentleman as well,” Reimers added. “We are up against a big dog.”