High school tennis: Santa Rosa girls stay unbeaten in North Bay League

In 2014, the Santa Rosa girls tennis team captured its first North Bay League title in 20 years. It doesn’t look like the Panthers will have to wait that long before collecting another banner.

Santa Rosa moved a step closer to consecutive titles Thursday by defeating visiting Rancho Cotate, 7-0. That puts the Panthers’ league record at 9-0.

Cardinal Newman is in the runner-up slot at 8-1. Those two schools played on Sept. 15 (Santa Rosa won 4-3) and will meet again next Thursday.

The resurgence of the Panthers’ tennis program has come with Dustin St. John at the helm. He’s in his sixth season at the school.

Last year, Santa Rosa made it to the top with a senior-laden team. This season, junior Emma Guilfoil has assumed No. 1 in singles and freshmen Anwen Lin and Zsazsa Sidney have also filled in nicely in other singles positions.

Guilfoil and Sidney notched wins Thursday. The former took care of Cindy Sanchez 6-1, 6-1 while the latter, playing the No. 2 position, defeated Cailey Baker 6-3, 6-4.

Guilfoil was able to execute her game plan almost flawlessly.

“I tried to end points quickly and most of the time my approach shots let me do that,” the junior said. “Also, my ground strokes were working well.”

It was her sixth victory in nine matches.

“I prefer singles over doubles,” Guilfoil said. “If I make a mistake, I don’t like feeling that I let my partner down.”

Moving into the No. 1 position this season, Guilfoil knew she had to step up her game and she has.

“I’ve definitely improved in pretty much everything,” she said. “Dustin (St. John) has been a great help. He works a lot with me.”

As the tennis program has improved, it’s become more popular with students. There are 20 on players on this year’s team. The roster is bigger than some football squads in the Redwood Empire.

MONTGOMERY 5,?MARIA CARRILLO 2

At Maria Carrillo, Marghi Andreassi remained unbeaten in NBL singles this year with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Emma Samson.

The Vikings took all four singles matches with Megan Gallegos, Karen Cai and Katie Hu also winning.

ANALY 4, SONOMA VALLEY 3

At Sonoma Valley, the Tigers eked out a victory to remain unbeaten in the Sonoma County League.

Analy, now 5-0, won all four singles positions while the Dragons swept the doubles.

Jade Wight, the top player in the league, breezed to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Emma Stanfield.

The other winners in singles were Hannah Caruso, Quiana Stodder and Allegra Diamond.

PETALUMA 7, PINER 0

At Petaluma, No. 1 singles Kim Garcia led the Trojans’ sweep with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Sinoun Phoung.