STATE CHAMPS!

STATE CHAMPS! The Fullerton College women's tennis team edged Sierra College 5-4 winning the 2013 CCCAA State Title for the second time in school history on Wednesday.

It had been since the 1986 season (19-1) under Ann Read that the Hornets brought home the state trophy.

The matches were originally to be played in Ojai, but rain forced Sierra (#1 in the North) and Fullerton (#4 in the South) to play at the Oxnard Tennis Center.

Facing a 4-2 deficit, the Hornets posted wins at Nos. 6, 1 and 2 singles to pull out a dramatic 5-4 victory over Sierra.  FC took a 2-1 lead after doubles with wins by #1 Sarah Anderson-Victoria Vo and #3 Jenna Futch-Andrea Zavala.

The Wolverines suffered their first loss in 14 matches and finished as the state runner-up for the third straight year. Chloe Vicari, Jaimie Miller and Bethany Caldwell won at Nos. 3, 4 and 5 to give Sierra a 4-2 lead.

In the next 10 minutes, however, Futch closed out Lauren Griffin 6-2, 6-4 at No. 6, Anderson beat Stephanie Ramos 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1 and Vo rallied past Jessica Ho 6-4, 6-0 at No. 2 for the fifth and decisive point. Vo is a perfect 17-0 in singles and 14-0 in doubles with Anderson this year.  She fell behind 4-0 in her singles match, then stormed back to win 12 straight games.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," said Vo, when asked how it felt to be state champions. "When I was down 0-4, I realized I need to win this for my team. I just buckled down and did my job. "She was slicing the ball, so all I had to do was hit it high to her backhand and she couldn't slice anymore."

Head Coach Scott Giles knew it was going to be a tight battle. "I was looking around and I saw that our No. 2 player was down 0-4," said Giles, who's in his 10th season at Fullerton. "I thought we needed that one to win the match. Victoria came fighting back to win the first set and came out strong in the second set. That was big and so was our No. 6 singles player, Jenna Futch. "It was a great team effort. All year long, the girls worked real hard. Everyone has contributed to our success."

Singles
1. Sarah Anderson (FC) d. Stephanie Ramos (Sierra) 6-2, 6-0
2. Victoria Vo (FC) d. Jessica Ho (Sierra) 6-4, 6-0
3. Chloe Vicari (Sierra) d. Jasmine Catolico (FC) 6-4, 6-2
4. Jamie Miller (Sierra) d. Cailin Mitchell (FC) 6-2, 6-2
5. Bethany Caldwell (Sierra) d. Rachel Kronenfeld (FC) 6-0, 6-0
6. Jenna Futch (FC) d. Lauren Griffin (Sierra) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles
1. Anderson/Vo (FC) d. Ramos/Ho (Sierra) 8-1
2. Vicari/Miller (Sierra) d. Catolico/Mitchell (FC) 8-5
3. Futch/Andres Zavala (FC) d. Griffin/Kaitlin Fischer (Sierra) 8-4

Up Next: The Hornets (18-3 overall, 9-1 state/conference champs) will continue to individual-play April 25-26 at the Ojai Tournament.

*Special thanks to Dave Loveton (SBBC SID) and Ian Liang (FC Tennis Coach) for their contributions to this story.