Maranatha Rallies To Defeat No. 1 Woodcrest Christian in CIF Title Match

The Minutemen of Maranatha girls’ tennis handily defeated Woodcrest Christian to take the CIF Division 5 Championship on Friday. – Courtesy photo / Twitter, @WeAreMaranatha

By Aaron Valdez

Although it wasn’t in the most dramatic of fashions, the Maranatha girls’ tennis team captured its second championship in four years as it upended Woodcrest Christian 12-6 in the CIF-SS Division V finals on Friday.

At first glance, the Minutemen seemed to have a lot on their hands being that Woodcrest Christian was the No. 1 seed in Division V.

And, in the early stages of the championship match it played out exactly like the way you would think.

However, Maranatha refused to come up short for the third year in a row, overcoming deficits in four of six matches in the first round to win 5-1. These matches included three singles and three doubles fixtures.

With the Minutemen already firmly in the driver’s seat, they cruised to a 12-6 victory thanks to a big performances from Maddie Kane, Malena Smith, Stella Wang, Amanda Yee and Georgia Wilder.

Kane, who is Maranatha’s No. 1 seed, torched all three of her opponents with match scores of 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1. Additionally, the tandem of Yee and Wilder took all of their doubles matches, helping the Minutemen retain the lead.

Maranatha finished its 2018 campaign with an 18-2 record.