UKIAH — Lake County tennis players, and especially the Middletown girls, owned the day on Saturday as the Coastal Mountain Conference Tennis Championships drew to a close at Mendocino College in Ukiah.
Three of the four titles in singles and doubles went to Lake County players, including No. 1 seed Miriam Lane of Middletown in girls” singles and No. 1 seeds Jeanine Zolczynski and Tasha Gibbs of Middletown in girls” doubles. Also bringing home a title was the Clear Lake boys” doubles team of Tony Valdez and Nate Secrest.
In boys” singles, Kelseyville”s Moses Kuzu reached the semifinals before dropping a 6-2, 6-2 decision to eventual winner Noah Lee of Summerfield-Waldorf School of Santa Rosa.
“I think it could have gone either way,” Kelseyville coach Jeff McLaren said of the battle of sophomores. “He”s a tall kid, about 6-2, and he hits heavy, just like Moses,” McClaren added. “It was just his day.”
Lee went on to beat defending champion Warren Lewis of Mendocino 6-3, 6-3 in the finals. Lewis defeated Kuzu in the finals a year ago.
Lane, also a sophomore, rolled through the competition to win her second straight CMC singles title in dominating fashion. Lane beat Bri Schneider of Willits 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals before blanking Megan Schneider of Willits, Bri”s sister, 6-0, 6-0 in the championship match.
Zolczynski and Gibbs won by default over Clear Lake”s Darcy McCarrick and Chloe Rojas in the semifinals before beating Laura Essayah and Sydney Frazer of Anderson Valley 6-0, 6-1 in the title match.
In boys” doubles, Secrest and Valdez, the top two singles players for Clear Lake during the regular season, teamed up to beat Paul Fletcher and Paul Meihaus of Rincon Valley Christian 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals. In the finals, Secrest-Valdez knocked off John Paula and Dylan Beatty of Anderson Valley 6-3, 6-4.
Secrest and Valdez will join Lee in representing the CMC at the North Coast Section Championships Friday and Saturday at Santa Rosa High School. Lane will represent the CMC at the NCS girls” championships next November as girls” tennis is contested during the fall sports season throughout the majority of the section.
