San Benito's Erin Glasspool returns a shot during her doubles semifinal match with teammate Rachel Smith Tuesday afternoon. Glasspool and Smith went on to defeat teammates Chelsea Yoakum and Vanessa Casalegno, who had won 43 straight matches going into the day.
Rachel Smith teamed up with Erin Glasspool to win the TCAL doubles championship over teammates Vanessa Casalegno and Chelsea Yoakum Tuesday afternoon in Salinas.
Well, no one saw this coming; not even the players themselves.
After San Benito's top doubles pairing in Vanessa Casalegno and Chelsea Yoakum completed their regular season undefeated at 17-0, and after the two went 19-0 last season and 5-0 the year before to the tune of 41 straight victories, the senior duo finally lost a match on Tuesday in the doubles championship at the Tri-County Athletic League Tournament in Salinas.
The pairing that put a halt to the streak? Well, it was a doubles team that Casalegno and Yoakum had never played in the regular season, a doubles team they only saw in practice.
Yes, practice.
San Benito's Rachel Smith and Erin Glasspool - a makeshift doubles team head coach Ed Cecena created prior to the TCAL Tournament - won four straight matches on Monday and Tuesday and upset Casalegno and Yoakum in the championship 7-6 (7-5), 1-6 and 10-4 in the third-set tiebreaker.
Certainly a shocking twist to the season, as Casalegno and Yoakum had defeated each one of their 17 opponents in straight sets during the TCAL slate, the two had a sneaking suspicion on Tuesday that Smith and Glasspool might put an end to their undefeated streak.
"I knew it'd be them," Casalegno said. "If you think about it, they know everything about us.
"We've played them at least 10 times (in practice). I think it is disappointing, but if we had to lose I'd want to lose to them."
Yoakum held similar sentiments.
"We play with them everyday," she said. "We know all their weaknesses and they know ours. It was quite interesting actually.
"I would have liked to have continued, but it was a good season. I know I did my best and so did 'Ness. That's all that matters."
While Smith played mostly at No. 2 singles this season and Glasspool at No. 2 doubles, the two paired up pretty well on Monday and Tuesday, defeating Gilroy's Melanie Moralos and Elaina Vasquez 6-3, 6-3, Alisal's Nicole Saldana and Genevieve Urueta 7-5, 6-1, and Notre Dame's Auburn Carpenter and Ashley Pippin 7-5, 6-2 to advance to the championship final.
Although pleased with their win, Smith and Glasspool seemed torn afterward.
"I'm still surprised," the senior Smith said. "I have mixed feelings."
"They were undefeated," Glasspool said.
"And they are really good friends of ours," Smith added. "Their undefeated streak ... kind of ruined it like that."
Smith and Glasspool will team up at least one more time. The two advance to the Central Coast Section Girls Tennis Championships, scheduled for the Courtside Tennis Club in Los Gatos on Nov. 23.
"I'm very surprised," Smith said. "I didn't expect to make it to semis, no offense to [Glasspool]."
"No," Glasspool said, "I didn't expect it, too.
During practice, Smith and Glasspool said they would rarely win, or even come close to winning, when they would pair up against Casalegno and Yoakum.
"Maybe we got better every time we played the game," Glasspool said. "The chemistry got better."
Cecena, who didn't help coach either team during Tuesday's championship, said he felt for Casalegno and Yoakum after an unbelievable three-year stretch, one that delivered an incredible 43-1 record.
"But if they're gonna lose, it's nice to lose to someone from their own team, someone they respect a lot ... instead of losing to a rival, which would probably hurt a lot more," Cecena said. "I guess it speaks well to the depth of our team and it showed here today at finals."
After the San Benito duos split the first two sets, the doubles final came down to a third-set tiebreaker, where the first team to 10 points by a margin of two would be the winner.
Tied at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4, the underdogs finally broke the scoring trend when Glasspool hit a forehand straight down the line for a 6-4 lead. While both teams had perfected the deep lob shot, leading to several key points off return errors, Smith put her team up 9-4 with a quick return at the net that somehow split Casalegno and Yoakum.
"They both played really quality tennis," Cecena said.
Glasspool and Smith are the second straight San Benito doubles team to advance to CCS after singles players Amanda Marshall and Abbie Woods teamed up for the TCAL crown last year.
Casalegno and Yoakum, meanwhile, still have a chance to compete at CCS as alternates. The two received a first-round bye at the TCAL Tournament on Monday, then defeated Gilroy's Meha Munshi and Alissa Castro 6-1, 6-2 and Salinas' Jaymie MacDonald and Kylie Knoles-Barnett 6-4, 6-3 to advance to Tuesday's championship round against their own teammates.
"It was really fun - fun to be challenged," Casalegno said. "And who knew it'd be by our own team."
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In singles, Salinas' Taryn Andrews defeated Teagan Seeley 6-3, 6-3 to claim the TCAL title.
Andrew Matheson Andrew Matheson is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 334 or at amatheson@svnewspapers.com.
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