Wilson earns All-SVL honors

Live Oak High hosted the 2011 Sacramento Valley League Singles and Doubles Championships Friday and Saturday and showed why they were the team to beat all season.

The Lion's Lucero Topete and Jacque Mullen put on a clinic throughout the tournament, facing each other in the finals of the singles bracket and teaming up to win the doubles championship.

Willow High's Kaylen Wilson earned a spot in the Section Championships on Saturday by winning her first three matches before losing in the semi-finals to Mullen.

Wilson opened the tournament with an 8-0 victory against Marina Gist of Mercy and topped teammate Stephanie Carriere 6-4, 6-2 in the second round.

Up next for Wilson was Live Oak's No. 2 player Crystal Rodriguez, and another 6-4, 6-2 win for the Honkers' ace to set up a semi-final match against the Lions' No. 3 player Mullen.

Mullen entered the semi-final match coming off a surprising win over Colusa's top player, Mickie Wilson, and continued her impressive run through the tournament beating Kaylen Wilson 6-4, 6-2.

Wilson struggled with Mullen's slower pace and long lob-heavy rallies.

"You have to hit it with a lot more bounce in it, you have to hit it flatter because you can't put as much spin or you'll hit it into the net," Wilson said.

By making it to the semi-finals, Wilson earned All-SVL honors and a chance to continue her season at sections.

"I wanted to make it to sections again and I just wanted to play better but I don't feel like I did. I'm really frustrated with myself because I wasn't as consistent," Wilson said.

On the doubles court, Wilson teamed up with Kylie Gammon for two wins before losing to Colusa's top doubles team in the semifinals 6-2, 6-3.

Wilson and Gammon had one more chance to earn a shot in the section doubles tournament in the third place game, but fell to Colusa's Katy Tarr and Madison Forney 7-5, 6-3.

Though the Honkers didn't make it to the section tournament, their fourth-place finish earned both Wilson and Gammon All-SVL honors in doubles.

The final loss was disappointing after Wilson and Gammon opened the season with a string of impressive wins before Gammon went down with appendicitis.

Gammon, a senior, came back from surgery and battled through soreness and loss of conditioning but was far from 100 percent.

"It's not as bad anymore, but it's just like I'm not where I was before," she said.

Gammon entered the tournament as a No. 6 seed in singles and her doubles team was the No. 3 seed, a testament to how well she played before the surgery.

In the singles bracket, Gammon won her first match against Mercy High's top player Stefanie Cheek 8-1 before losing to Live Oak's Andrea Long 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4.

"That was one of the first things my dad was concerned about too just because it was my senior year," Gammon said.

Several other Honkers players picked up wins in the tournament. Carriere won her first round match against Colusa's Sydney Lunsford 8-3 before losing to Wilson.

Bisma Khan beat Mercy's Jayden Chi 8-0 before losing to Mullen, and Hadiya Khan topped Colusa's Shane Myers 8-1 before losing to Colusa's Mickie Wilson.

Willows' doubles team of Makayla Chacon and Cindy Vang won their first match 8-1 before losing to Wilson and Gammon in the second round. Bisma and Hadiya Khan earned a victory in the first round 8-6 before losing to Colusa's top team.

CONTACT Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com.