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Repeat Tennis Champions
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Ceres High's and Oakdale's varsity girls tennis teams finished tied atop the Valley Oak League regular season standings for the second year in a row.

The Bulldogs had a chance to win the championship outright but the Mustangs played spoiler with a 3-2 win on Tuesday, Oct. 20 in Ceres. Ceres High closed out conference play by beating East Union 4-1 on Wednesday and Lathrop 5-0 on Thursday.

"It's frustrating because we know we're the better team when healthy," Bulldogs head coach Bryan Harden said. "We just came up short because of bad timing. I'm kind of bummed about it."

Added Ceres High's top singles player McKenzy Harden: "I thought we were going to go all the way. It's disappointing that we didn't go undefeated. But we still won a share of the title."

The Bulldogs won 15 of 16 league matches this year because of their consistent top-to-bottom lineup.

Harden and No. 2 singles player Angie Prak both finished 29-0 during the VOL regular season.

McKenzy enters this week's conference tournament with a 93-match winning streak. She's vying for her third straight perfect campaign.

Harden and Prak could meet in the finals at Oakdale High.

"It would be really cool if that happened," McKenzy said.

Karinna Magana, Ceres High's No. 3 singles player, compiled a 21-7 record. She missed the final four matches of the season with a knee injury.

The No. 1 doubles tandem of Ryan Norton and Kaycee Creek combined to win 16 of their 22 matches.

Rachel Stump and Christin Ornells amassed a 15-7 record while playing No. 2 doubles for the Bulldogs.

Ceres High has experienced a lot of success in girls tennis since 2007. The Bulldogs have posted a 38-6 record, won back-to-back conference crowns and secured three section playoff berths.

"To be honest, I didn't think we'd win it (league this season) because we lost some key players," McKenzy said. "But we started getting on a roll. It's amazing. We've improved so much. It makes more people want to play since the team has done well."

Prak, Creek, Stump and Ornells were valuable replacements.

"They did a great job all year," said Bryan, who had to shuffle his lineup after losing Venus Lopez and Morgan Ogden to other commitments, and Natalie Flores to graduation. "Some of them overachieved."