2010 MANTECA BULLETIN ALL-AREA GIRLS TENNIS TEAM
• Vannida Nguyen, Sierra sophomore: Nguyen established herself as one of the singles players to reckon with, coming a single victory away from the VOL singles title. Nguyen will come into her junior year as one of the league’s top individual players.
• Marlen Kurzhals, Manteca senior: Gave the Buffaloes instant credibility when the exchange-student landed a spot as their No. 1 singles player. Kurzhals made a lengthy run in the VOL tournament, reaching the semifinals before getting bumped by the eventual champion.
• Nicole Bowen, Weston Ranch senior: Was the season-long No. 1 for the undefeated VOL champion Weston Ranch Cougars. Bowen put together one of her most impressive victories in the Cougars’ home win over Sierra where she stopped Nguyen 6-1, 6-4.
• Shalane Jackson and Klasey Kachalkin, East Union juniors: After making a lengthy VOL tournament run as sophomores, the tandem continued with an impressive season their junior year. The pair were stopped in this season’s tournament by the eventual doubles’ runners-up, but will come in with huge expectations their senior season.
• Ly Hoang and Cristina Poklay, Weston Ranch: The pair were a key ingredient to the Cougars’ undeniable success, pushing a run to the VOL double’s semi-finals where their championship quest ended. Hoang also garnered an all-area team berth during the 2009 season.
For Maryann Baker, she was like the perfect piece completing an unbelievable puzzle.
Together, the Sierra High No. 1 doubles teammates closed out their regular season with perfect flare, finishing undefeated going into the Valley Oak League Tournament and teaming up for The Bulletin’s 2010 Tennis Players of the Year.
Vanni was just as remarkable a season ago when she teamed up with then-Sierra senior Jena Anderson. They won the VOL Doubles Tournament title and were 2009 Tennis Players of the Year.
Revamping the pair by adding Baker to the mix was the perfect fit for Vanni, who over the past two seasons put together an unblemished regular-season record in which she won 56 straight matches.
“Winning is very important to me,” Vanni said of the two-year marathon of wins. “When you are that into athletics you just don’t ever consider losing. I know that I wouldn’t have been able to do it without either of my two partners.
“We all just hated losing, so we just pushed ourselves to get the win at then end of the day.”
Baker, who didn’t join the program until her sophomore year, seemingly had no problem suiting up with one of the most successful tennis players in school history, fitting in as the perfect complement to Vanni and putting together a senior season that left little doubt as to who was the Valley Oak League’s most dominant pair.
“In the beginning, I knew I had some really big shoes to fill,” Baker said. “So I didn’t know what to expect at all. I just took things game-by-game and it really didn’t hit me until the second half, and I realized that we could do it.
“I was so proud that we were able to accomplish so much.”
The duo helped lead Sierra to a respectable 11-3 VOL season, earning the Timberwolves a berth into the Sac-Joaquin Section postseason. Vanni and Baker landed individual SJS Tennis Championship berths as well.
Vanni’s quest to be a representative of one half of the conference’s doubles champions for consecutive seasons was the only stone left unturned when the pair ran into a make-shift tandem of singles standouts and tasted the season’s first defeat in the VOL championships to Brianne McRee and Brielle Snyder of Sonora High.
“The doubles players hate when the singles players come in during the tournament,” Vanni confessed. “But I know that it is just part of the game. We knew in the back of our minds that we had to win it, but you have to give those girls credit, they were really good tennis players.
“That one game we lost could not stop us from trying to comeback and play good tennis at sections.”
The minor blemish could do nothing to taint the outstanding season these two standouts put together. For over 30 matches, everything that need to go right went right for the tandem, helping build a bond that the two will share long after their Sierra High careers.
“On the court we were teammates and off the court we are friends that always hang out together,” Vanni said. “I was glad that she was my partner because she is one of my good friends.
“It was fun to be able to share my last season with her.”
The duo depended on one another week-in and week-out during an epic undefeated ride through the VOL. Baker held her own and turned into a player that looked as if she played alongside Vanni the past four seasons.
Vanni was just her usual dominant self. It is one thing to put together an unbelievable ride, but to do so for consecutive seasons, with different partners clearly puts Vanni in a class all by herself.
“She is just amazing,” Baker said of her cohort. “She runs for every single ball and was able to come up with shots that I didn’t think could even happen. She always could just make it happen.
“I was lucky to have her, because she could always carry me if I wasn’t doing so great.”
