HomeSportsSan Marino Slams La Cañada to Win League Title

San Marino Slams La Cañada to Win League Title

First published in the Oct. 28 print issue of the San Marino Tribune.

San Marino High School girls’ tennis coach Melwin Pereira feared La Cañada’s potent lineup, which is sprinkled with four blue-chip tournament players, ahead of last Thursday’s showdown between the Rio Hondo League’s two best teams.
But Pereira has plenty of big guns of his own and the Titans hit the mark on Senior Night, duplicating an 11-7 win that took place earlier in the season to wrap up yet another league championship.

Photo by Mitch Lehman / TRIBUNE Tianmei Wang, a freshman, moved to doubles against La Cañada but the result was the same as she and partner Valerie Kuo won all three sets by scores of 6-3.

The newly minted doubles team of senior Elaine Wu and junior Selina Wu was dominant again, winning all three sets by scores of 6-0, 6-2 and 6-2 to lead the charge. The combination of freshman Tianmei Wang and junior Valerie Kuo weren’t far behind, emerging victorious in all three sets by identical scores of 6-3. Isabelle Kang and doubles partner Katie Lui also played well for San Marino.
The singles captured five sets to claim the victory as sophomore Olivia Center and freshman Giselle Gandakusuma each went 2-1 while senior captain Camdyn Wu took a set during her rare foray into singles play to clinch the win.
Following the match, Pereira singled out Elaine Wu and Selina Wu for securing the match-clinching ninth point (San Marino was far ahead in games won) and Camdyn Wu for adding the 10th. Other than the fact that they all play fantastic tennis, the three Wus are not related. They are joined together now as teammates who are at least partially responsible for winning 13 consecutive Rio Hondo League championships and two in a span of just five months. The Titans narrowly defeated La Cañada on May 5 by a final score of 10-8 to win the 2020-21 school year’s Rio Hondo League championship. Due to the pandemic, the teams met only once during that abbreviated season.
San Marino dropped a 13-5 non-league match to powerhouse Arcadia earlier this year, but otherwise haven’t had a setback. SMHS defeated South Pasadena on Tuesday afternoon to finish the regular season with a record of 10-1 and a perfect 8-0 in league play.
The Lady Titans participated in the Rio Hondo League individual championships this week, where Selina Wu defended her singles title. But this year, some of her stiffest competition might be found among her own teammates.

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