5A state tennis: Coronado girls duo perseveres for doubles state title

Bella Gallegos and Kamilah Saine of Coronado won the 5A girls doubles individual state title Friday at Faith Lutheran, defeating Bishop Gorman's Leilani Raymond and Camila Perez 7-6(5), 6-4. Gallegos said, "It just feels amazing. It's kind of crazy. It was a very competitive match, which was a lot of fun. But winning aside my best friend was the best thing that could happen. I love it." She added, "It was really close. It was very competitive, but I feel like we just kept each other up. Anytime we saw each other getting down, we would make sure we stayed positive and kept being aggressive. We didn't want them to (cheer) louder) than us in a sense." Saine, a sophomore, said, "We're really close, so I feel like that chemistry was already there. We were able to bring that into our doubles matches the whole week. Having that sense that we could come back better this week from a negative thing that happened last week to winning is really good." Faith Lutheran's Heidi Bergin won the 5A girls singles title after Coronado's Erika Gallegos retired in the second set due to injury, with Bergin winning 6-0, 6-6. Bergin said, "My match went really good. Erika's a great player. It was sad that we had to end it with her injury, but I hope she feels better. I'm proud of the way I played." She noted, "It gave us a lot of confidence. It was a really exciting time. It gave me a lot of confidence coming into individual state," referring to her team's recent 5A team state title win. In boys singles, Faith Lutheran's Tyson Young defeated Bishop Gorman's Lucas Rago 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5), winning the final-set tiebreaker 7-5. Coach Keith Fridrich said in a text message, "Super proud of Tyson. This was a goal of his for so long, and for him to save four match points and force the tiebreaker, and then come away with a win, it was very special, and a testament to all the work he has put in during the off season." In boys doubles, the Faith Lutheran duo of Davey Gluth and Michael Bergin defeated Bishop Gorman's Shawn DeMilliano and Rumi Figuero 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to win the title. Fridrich added, "Can't say enough about Davey and Michael. They faced two match points in th" (quote truncated per source).

Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal