Girls tennis players honored at post-season banquet

The Fallbrook High School girls tennis team held its post-season banquet Dec. 3 at the Fallbrook Golf Club’s Hukilau restaurant.

“It went great. We had some really good videos of the kids, some nice awards,” said Fallbrook coach Dave Ramirez.

The awards portion included presenting the Most Valuable Player doubles award to seniors Tanya Hasvold and Emily Donnelly and the Most Valuable Player singles award to senior Hailey Johnson.

Hasvold and Donnelly reached the semifinals of the Avocado East League tournament and the second round of the CIF tournament. “As seniors they’ve come together at the end,” Ramirez said.

The loss in the CIF tournament was to Poway’s top doubles team of Laina Matsuda and Henriikka Niemi. During the CIF team playoffs Hasvold and Johnson were a doubles team in the quarterfinals against Poway and defeated Matsuda and Niemi in a 6-2 set. In 2009, Matsuda teamed with then-senior Kaley Schultz to win the CIF individual doubles championship; Schultz and Matsuda defeated Johnson and her sister, Michaela. Hasvold and Johnson won all three sets in the team quarterfinal against Poway.

“They played very well,” Ramirez said of Hasvold and Donnelly. “They were persistent. Never gave up.”

This year Hailey Johnson played singles in the league and CIF individual tournaments. She defeated teammate Jessica Willett to win the league championship and reached the CIF tournament’s semifinals before a loss to eventual CIF champion Karen Forman of Torrey Pines.

“She’s just a great person, not just a player,” Ramirez said of Johnson.

Willett, who is also a senior, received the team’s Sportsmanship Award at the banquet.

The banquet also saw the presentation of all-academic awards. Fallbrook plays its home matches at the Fallbrook Tennis Club, and the banquet thanked tennis club owner Dorothy Roth. “She’s just so supportive for our high school teams,” Ramirez said. “She just goes above and beyond, incredibly supportive. Really appreciate that.”

Both of the Warriors’ playoff matches were tied at nine sets apiece and decided on the tiebreaking criteria of games won. Fallbrook’s first-round win over Scripps Ranch was by a 75-57 games margin. The Warriors’ quarterfinal loss at Poway saw the Titans win 71 games while Fallbrook captured 69. The Warriors finished the season with a final record of 12-9, including the two playoff matches, and Fallbrook’s 8-2 Avocado East League record placed second in the standings.

“Just really happy to be a part of their progress,” Ramirez said. “I’m very thankful for the opportunity.”

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