Ceres High’s girls golf program had three individuals compete at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division-IV Championships last week in Stockton, including Alysabeth Marquez, Brooke Trio and Allison Lewis.
“That’s the first time they’ve ever played there,” Bulldogs’ head coach Ron Edwards said. “It was a rainy and cold day. For my girls to shoot what they shot, I thought it was fantastic.”
Marquez, a junior, fired a 28-over-par 100 on Oct. 25 at Swenson Park Golf Course.
She earned her first-ever berth to the Masters Tournament thanks to posting the fifth-best individual score at Divisionals.
“I’m happy for her,” Edwards said. “She deserves it.”
“I’m not surprised at all,” he added. “I thought she could do this since she was a freshman. But she didn’t have a chance to move forward.”
Marquez was named co-Most Valuable Player of the Western Athletic Conference South Division as a sophomore. The CIF Sac-Joaquin Section canceled playoffs last season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Marquez wanted to play girls golf at Ceres High her freshman year. But the school didn’t field a team due to a late coaching departure and a lack of interest. She ended up playing in several matches for the boys team before the season was cut short because of COVID-19.
“She’s improved a lot,” Edwards said. “She’s pretty tough mentally. If she hits a bad shot, she forgets about it. She devises a different game plan for her next shot.”
Trio and Lewis had rounds of 111 and 138, respectively.
Brooke and Allison are just freshmen.
They’re newcomers to golf.
“Both of them did great,” Edwards said. “It’s an experience they’ll never forget.”
Marquez, Trio and Lewis helped lead Ceres High to a fourth-place finish at the Western Athletic Conference Championships the previous week. The Bulldogs just missed qualifying for the Division-IV Tournament as a team.
GIRLS TENNIS
Ceres High’s girls tennis team competed on the road twice during the final week of the Western Athletic Conference regular season.
The Bulldogs dropped their WAC finale, 9-0, at Grace Davis on Oct. 21 in Modesto.
The Spartans won all six singles and three doubles matches.
Gurmannet Bahia lost 6-0, 6-0 to Adryanna Ege in No. 1 singles play.
Valerie Raya lost 6-1, 6-2 to Sariyah King in No. 2 singles play.
Gurleen Kaur lost 6-2, 6-0 to Aspen Kelly in No. 3 singles play.
Jelanie Esguerra lost 6-0, 6-0 to Daylin Macias in No. 4 singles play.
Alexa Sandoval lost 6-4, 6-1 to Yarisbel Ramos in No. 5 singles play.
Kensy Gallardo lost 7-5, 6-3 to Jenifer Hinojosa in No. 6 singles play.
Isabella Gutierrez and Melissa Villegas lost 6-1 6-2 to Josleynna Kieng and Karelli Holder in No. 1 doubles play.
Yasmin Pinedo and Jasmeen Kaur lost 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 to Heidy Santos and Noor Bushra in No. 2 doubles play.
Camila Orellana and Zainab Nazir lost 6-2, 6-0 to Kendall Shroyer and Engelyna Garcia in No. 3 doubles play.
First-place Mountain House cruised to a 9-0 victory over host Ceres High on Oct. 19.
Bahia lost 6-0, 6-0 to Subha Patel in No. 1 singles play.
Ochoa lost 6-0, 6-0 to Sana Patel in No. 2 singles play.
Gurleen Kaur lost 6-0, 6-0 to Udaiyaa Bommudurai in No. 3 singles play.
Esguerra lost 6-4, 6-1 to Lizzie Su in No. 4 singles play.
Gallardo lost 6-0, 6-0 to Satya Sanegepalli in No. 5 singles play.
Villegas lost 6-0, 6-0 to Kylie De Croos in No. 6 singles play.
Sandoval and Gutierrez lost 6-1, 6-2 to Anisha Pandey and Anya Palsson in No. 1 doubles play.
Pinedo and Jasmeen Kaur lost 6-1, 6-1 to Jannet Baig and Sumedha Kundurthi in No. 2 doubles play.
Nazir and Orellana lost 6-3, 6-1 to Kavya Nigam and Noha Beha Bhaskarabhotia in No. 3 doubles play.
Ceres High (1-13) tied for last place in the WAC standings with Pacheco. The Bulldogs compiled a 1-1 record against the Panthers.
“We had very few matches with the same lineup,” head coach Brandon Moring said. “Kids nowadays do so many things. That makes it hard to compete. There was huge improvement. Obviously, it wasn’t enough to compete team-wise.”
“Outside of Mountain House and Los Banos, all the other teams were beatable,” he added. “We lacked experience.”
The Bulldogs will lose six starters to graduation, including Bahia, Raya, Ochoa, Villegas, Gallardo and Lilia Barragan.
“We’ll be more competitive moving forward,” Moring said. “But we got a long ways to go. It’s going to take a commitment from them to play year-round to make themselves better.”
Hawk conclude season
Central Valley’s girls tennis team wrapped up the Central California Conference regular season portion of its schedule last week.
The Hawks were beaten by the Merced Bears and Golden Valley Cougars.
Central Valley compiled a 1-13 record on its way to a last-place finish in the CCC standings.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a season like this,” head coach Mike Rodriguez said. “If we would have had our top 12 players all year, we could have competed with every team in our league. The girls that played, played hard.”
“It’s going to be another rebuild next year with only a handful of girls returning,” he added.
Upperclassmen Jessica Saini, Harman Kaur, Malina Keomuangchanh, Alika Victorino, Rinah Dulay, Navreet Pattar, Taleia Lopez, Dailyn Melchner and Leslie Bobadilla all garnered special recognition during Central Valley’s 8-1 loss to visiting Merced on Senior Day on Oct. 21.
“It’s a good group of girls,” Rodriguez said. “A handful of them played for me for multiple years. A lot of them put in extra time. They competed hard every day, kept working and always had great attitudes.”
Melchner and Lopez accounted for Central Valley’s lone team point.
The duo won 2-6, 6-2, 10-8 at No. 3 doubles.
Lliria Liria and Liana Guzman lost 6-2, 3-6, 10-4 at No. 2 doubles.
Dulay and Bobadilla lost 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles.
Kaur lost 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.
Victorino lost 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 singles.
Lesly Rivas lost 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 singles.
Pattar lost 6-2, 6-0 at No. 4 singles.
Samantha Perez lost 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5 singles.
Kaitlyn Teng lost 6-1, 6-3 at No. 6 singles.
“I knew it was going to be tough because Merced finished in second place,” Rodriguez said.
Central Valley lost 7-2 at Golden Valley on Oct. 19.
Liria and Dulay won at No. 2 doubles.
Lopez and Giselle Mendez won 6-3, 7-5 at No. 3 doubles.
Bobadilla and Alondra Robles lost 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles.
Kaur lost 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.
Victorino lost 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 singles.
Rivas lost 6-1, 7-5 at No. 3 singles.
Pattar lost 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4 singles.
Perez lost 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 singles.
Teng lost 6-4, 6-3 at No. 6 singles.
“The girls played hard,” Rodriguez said.
Saini (knee), Keomuangchanh (shoulder) and Angie Medrano (leg) did not play last week due to injuries.
“It was a struggle all year—not based on the girls’ effort,” Rodriguez said. “We never got any continuity. We basically switched up our lineup every match because of mostly injuries and a lot of things going on. That made it tough to compete.”
