In a surprising comeback, the Beverly Hills High School (BHHS) girl’s tennis team defeated Flintridge Prep on May 21, winning the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section division four championship at the Arcadia Tennis Center. Led by first year coach, Rolly Zalameda, Beverly Hills won 71-74, marking the first CIF victory for the girl’s tennis team since 2012.
After trailing Flintridge Prep by two matches, BHHS won the remaining two doubles matches, and tied the score at 9-9. In the final winner take all match, Beverly Hills’ number two doubles team, Maya Goldkorn and Lola Eustace, emerged victorious, defeating Flintridge Prep’s number one doubles duet, Jacqueline Hsu and Manya Lalwani, winning 7-5.
“What we didn’t know at the time was that our match was going to make or break the whole thing,” Maya Goldkorn, a junior at BHHS, told the Courier. According to Goldkorn, Eustace was also unaware of the stakes. “Because it was tied 9-9 in terms of sets, it then went by game count. We were up in the game count by a little bit, but it was very close.”
With all eyes from both teams on the match, the doubles duo remained steady and determined to make a comeback.
“It was super stressful because there were a lot of people watching since everyone else had already finished,” Goldkorn told the Courier. “It was hard to stay focused and come up with a strategy and to just not doubt myself. And we ended up winning!”
