From LBPOSTSports.com
Story by Mike Guardabascio
For most of us, an afternoon spent playing sports with a sibling usually meant a pickup game of basketball on the driveway, or playing catch at a nearby park. For Lakewood’s Tan sisters, it meant utterly dominating the rest of the Moore League during the league’s singles/doubles finals matches Wednesday afternoon at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center.
Stacey Tan, a senior, faced Wilson’s Jillian Sangria in the singles final, and left little room for drama in a convincing and impressive 6-3, 6-0 victory that saw her outperform the talented Sangria in every phase of the game. While she was capturing the league’s first place medal on the near court, her younger sister, freshman Suzy, was defeating Poly’s Jaynee Guevara on the back court to claim the third place award. Perhaps wanting to show off for her big sister, Suzy won 6-1, 6-0, giving the Tan sisters a combined 24-4 score against the league’s other top competitors—Stacey and her opponent, Sangria, will now both advance to the CIF tournament next week. “I just went out and played the way I usually play,” said the senior Tan. “It went pretty well—it’s really exciting.”
But the Tan show didn’t end there—nor did the Lancers’ wonderful season. After Suzy had time to cool down and then warm back up again, she was joined by teammate Summer Beaird in the doubles final, as they took on Poly’s top duo of Monica Rodriguez and Guevara. This match was a polar opposite of the earlier one, with Poly going up 5-2 before the Lancers made a dramatic comeback, eventually taking the set 7-6. They won the second set in similar fashion, going down 4-3 before sweeping back in to win it 6-4, capturing the first place medal. On the back court, the Wilson duo of Sangria/Slaughter defeated Lakewood’s Makenzie Thorpe and Kelli Prowant to capture the third place prize.
Lakewood doubles coach Jason Wall wasn’t surprised by his team’s dramatic comeback for the top award, though. “[After we fell behind] we came out aggressive, trying to hit harder and get after them a little.” When asked about the success of the Lancers this season, he just smiled and said, “It’s been a great year.” With CIF looming, it’s not over yet.