Tigers' tennis team to host Central Section title match Tuesday, November 8

Kaitlin Raulino in her singles match. The Tigers won 7-2 to advance to the Central Section championship match, Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m.

The Tigers will play the title match at the Lemoore courts against Immanuel on Nov. 8 at 2 p.m.

The Tigers easily got past Bakersfield Wednesday afternoon on the Tigers’ home courts, beating the Vikings 7-2 on the strength of singles and doubles action.

“The girls made some mental errors today,” said Tiger Coach Carla Bow, “but refocused the rest of the way to finish strong. We’re excited to compete for a valley championship next week.”

Unfortunately, Lemoore’s top player, Kaitlin Raulino, dropped her singles match to Bakersfield’s Sara Cooper 1-6, 2-6. But Serena Mendoza turned things around with an easy 6-0, 6-3 win over her opponent and Cynthia Moreno won a hard-fought match against Yasmin Flores, winning 6-1 and 7-2 on a tie breaker.

The longest match of the day award goes to Helena Cavero who beat Leslie Vasquez 7-5 6-3 to give Lemoore a 4-2 advantage heading into doubles play.

In other action, Maddie Kuntz beat Bakersfield’s Clair Naz 6-1, 6-4, but Annelisa Andrada dropped her hard-fought match to Giselle Gonzalez 4-6, 6-4, 8-10 (tiebreaker).

In doubles, Raulino returned from her loss in singles play to join with Moreno to win 6-3, 6-2. Valori Meraz and Lizeth Garcia increased the Tigers’ lead with a 7-5, 6-1 victory.

Lemoore sealed the deal when Mendoza and Kuntz won in a super tie breaker 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), and (10-2).