CLOVERDALE — If Claire Vargas is feeling any pressure, she isn”t showing it.
“I asked her if she was nervous out there and she just shook her head no,” Kelseyville coach Jeff McLaren said after watching his freshman phenom rally from a break down in the first set and a 5-4 deficit in the second set to beat Cloverdale”s Aidan Reynolds 6-4, 7-5 in a Coastal Mountain Conf-erence tennis match on Tuesday in Cloverdale.
Vargas” straight-set win was part of a 5-0 Kelseyville victory that keeps the Knights undefeated in the CMC standings at 6-0. They travel to St. Helena on Thursday and compete in the CMC Championships on Friday and Saturday at Mendocino College in Ukiah before officially closing out their regular season with a home match next Tuesday against Cloverdale.
“She gets stronger as the match goes on,” McLaren said of his freshman. “As her opponent seems to tighten up, she gets looser.”
Vargas is part of a powerhouse Kelseyville lineup that includes No. 1 singles player Moses Kuzu, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Sal Mendoza; No. 2 singles player Nils Mostin, a 6-0, 6-0 winner over Oscar Ochoa; the No. 1 doubles team of Kyle Schmidt and Max Lehman, 6-0, 6-0 winners over Jose Torres and Ben Natividad; and the No. 2 doubles team of Ashley Taylor and Abby McQueen, 6-0, 6-2 winners over Hannah Pope and Alexis Hernandez.
