Central Valley High School's varsity girls tennis team made history this past week.

The Hawks secured their first-ever playoff berth.

"Everyone is excited," head coach Mike Rodriguez said. "The boys made playoffs last year. Now, it's our turn. I expected us to be competitive. We have some girls with experience. A lot of our girls don't play other sports. They don't know what playoffs are. It takes pressure off them."

Second-place Central Valley improved to an impressive 8-1 in the Western Athletic Conference standings after topping crosstown-rival Ceres High and Livingston.

The Hawks have beaten the Bulldogs and Wolves twice by identical scores of 5-4 this year.

"There are expectations now," Rodriguez said. "Our tennis program hasn't had much success up until recently. We've been competitive the last few years even though we missed the playoffs."

Central Valley has won its last three meetings versus Ceres High.

The Hawks edged the visiting Bulldogs 5-4 on Thursday.
"Our No. 1 and 2 doubles teams finished at the same time," Rodriguez said. "That wrapped it up for us."

Central Valley had an all-time record of 0-15 prior to knocking off Ceres High for the first time in 2013.

"It was business as usual," Rodriguez said. "We knew it was going to be close again. The last two matches we played, we beat them 5-4."

Chelsea Flores and Princess Pe defeated Ceres High's Stephanie Garcia and Jolyce Vega 6-2, 6-2 in No. 1 doubles play.

Amy Nguyen and Vanessa Monroy defeated Andria Esho and Dominique Koeurn 6-4, 6-1 in No. 2 doubles play.

Emely Amaya defeated Angelica Slater 6-4, 6-0 in No. 1 singles play.

Teresa Diaz defeated Bianca DeAnda 6-4, 6-3 in No. 4 singles play.

Celest Lepe defeated Justine Vega 6-2, 6-3 in No. 5 singles play.

Naomi Torres lost 6-4, 6-2 to Ceres High's Gabriella Blandino in No. 2 singles play.

Jadah Jackson lost 6-3, 6-0 to Janet Jimenez in No. 3 singles play.

Evelyn Andrade lost 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to Juliana Rosas in No. 6 singles play.

Sorrayar Sounthala and Samantha Sotomayor lost 6-1, 6-2 to Geneba Revuelta and Sabrina Yang in No. 3 doubles play.

Ceres High dropped to 6-4 in the WAC standings.

Central Valley had seven players compete in the school's annual powder-puff flag football game last Wednesday.

"It was homecoming week," Rodriguez said. "I was a little worried. But it's high school. A lot of girls look forward to the powder-puff game. You got to let them do some stuff."

Central Valley posted a 5-4 win over host Livingston on Oct. 14.

Amaya defeated Karina Ramos 6-0, 6-2 in No. 1 singles play.

Jackson defeated Elisa Arment 6-3, 5-7, 6-0 in No. 2 singles play.

Diaz defeated Jasdeep Bassi 6-1, 6-2 in No. 3 singles play.

Pe defeated Cynthia Frias 6-4, 6-4 in No. 6 singles play.

Nguyen and Sotomayor defeated Avneet Uppal and Claudia Esquivel 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in No. 2 doubles play.