Gibson wins thriller, Panthers thrive

Granite Hills senior No. 1 singles player Caitlin Jetter was one game away from notching the biggest win of her season.

But she was battling every possible variable: wind, rain, darkness, nerves and a fiery opponent.

She had Shiloah Gibson down 5-0 in her final regular-season singles match but saw her lead evaporate, as Gibson won an unthinkable six straight matches. Jetter rallied to win the next game and force a tiebreaker, but the momentum pendulum had swung too far.

Gibson took the tiebreaker 7-2 won the match 7-6. This came minutes Panthers after No. 2 singles player Nicole Ervin rallied from three points behind to edge Granite No. 3 Kelsey Blackburn in a tiebreaker.

Those two stomach-punch defeats at sunset were too much to overcome for the Grizzlies (7-3-2 EYL), who ended their banner regular season with a 10-4 loss (called early due to rain) at Porterville, Monday night.

Following Gibson and Ervin’s second-round heroics, the teams headed to the lighted courts at Porterville College. With league-champion Porterville (11-0 EYL) up 8-4 after the marathon wins, Granite coach Randy Smee knew his team was cooked.

“Impossible. That breaks your spirit,” Smee said. “Basically, they came here, they had a good attitude then the rain started and it was like deja vu. Basically, we were hoping to get the two matches done and get off the court so nobody got hurt.”

The Grizzlies and Panthers went into round two tied at three and, after three doubles defeats. Granite led in all three singles matches and was poised to give the EYL champs a fight. Sarah Herrera, who beat Gibson 6-4 in round one, rolled past Nettie Roman, 6-4, pulling Granite to within two.

Blackburn had a 5-2 lead on Ervin on center court, but all eyes were on the two No. 1s. Jetter was on her game in the first 20 minutes of the match, making Gibson, who has not been at the top of her game since her eye injury two weeks ago, run by smashing well-placed shots.

“I saw Caitlin play awesome then just not be able to finish it when she came back,” Smee said. “Shiloah was able to get her second wind and played excellent. Shiloah played an excellent match coming back and showed some real guts. Caitlin played well; she just didn’t have enough to finish.”

The next 20 minutes were simply stunning as Gibson, now playing on her toes and charging forward consistently, reeled off six straight wins and was set to cap a stunning comeback. Both had to compensate for the wind with each having to alternate between power shots against it and lobs with it.

Porterville coach Kurt Nielsen thought Jetter was the superior player Monday, but saw the tide turn in such sweeping fashion that nerves couldn’t help but creep into Jetter’s mind.

“She came in a few times and hit some winning volleys, some overheads and that probably deflated Caitlin a little bit,” he said. “Really when you look at it, Caitlin was the better player today, but that comeback changed all the momentum and the air went out of her balloon and that’s when it got to 5-all. How do you not think about the fact that every ball you’re swinging at that you had a 5-0 lead? It’s very hard at this level to be mentally tough and not let that get you.”

Up 6-5, Gibson won a near-three-minute volley over Jetter and was set to shake Jetter’s hand to close the match, but didn’t realize that Jetter had called a previous shot out of bounds and the two, after an argument at midcourt, went into tiebreak.

From there, Gibson, visibly angry after the ruling, shifted into attack mode and landed several power shots that either got past Jetter or forced returns into the net.

The final blow came when Jetter lobbed a shot past Gibson, who sprinted backward, stuck out her racket and sent a prayer lob back over the net. She then landed two drop shots to close the match, 7-6 (7-2).

“I just think for whatever reason (the point controversy) ignited Shiloah,” Nielsen said. “Some people play better when they get mad, some play worse. You never recommend getting mad; it’s usually not a positive thing. In that case, the fact that she’d come so far back from 5-0, maybe she felt there was some kind of destiny.”

Ervin stopped Blackburn, 7-6 (7-4) and the Panthers got 6-1 wins from Alecia Gonzales and Alisia Scudder on the drenched PC courts and both coaches voted to end the match there.

The Panthers won six doubles matches as well, with Scudder-Larissa Clem, Gonzales-Nancy Valdez and Brena Simpson-Quin Johnson each stopping their Grizzly counterparts.

Porterville hosts Monache at 4 p.m., Wednesday for a chance to cap a second straight undefeated EYL slate. If the Panthers win, the Grizzlies earn a share of second place, something Smee couldn’t have predicted.

“This is the best I could’ve hoped for,” Smee said. “If you’d told me we’d be tied for second at the end of EYL, I’d have said ‘You’re kidding me; What are you drinking?’ The girls have responded well to all the challenges that have come across their way and they’ve improved. I’m just ecstatic about the way they played and what our results are.”