Martinez, Herrera representing Porterville in Valley's final 16

One’s a tall, powerful league champion.

The other a short, scrappy defensive specialist.

They have drastically different styles and backgrounds, but today, they are in the same position: underdogs representing their hometown.

Monache junior Jasmine Martinez and Granite Hills senior Sarah Herrera were the EYL’s two best singles players and are the only two Orange Belt tennis players left in the Valley Individual Tournament.

Martinez, the tourney’s No. 15 singles seed, defeated Herrera in the EYL finals to win her second straight title. Her first third-round appearance was expected; Herrera’s was not. In fact, she was unaware she was the only unseeded player remaining.

“I’m really surprised that I’m the only one that’s not seeded,” Herrera said. “I’m honestly just extremely excited and extremely grateful just to have come this far.”

Herrera was the No. 1 singles player on the Division IV runner-up Grizzly squad and entered Valley expected to fall in the second round. But she was the only player to screw up the seeding committee’s plan, upsetting No. 12 Katlyn Wood in straight sets.

Herrera now faces the No. 5 seed, Denisa Hromadkova (Frontier), and will get to test herself against the best player she’s ever faced. She hopes her defensive-minded approach will frustrate the favorite.

“I don’t really care about hitting it hard or hitting winners,” Herrera said. “I just wanna be able to be that backboard and hopefully wear them out.”

Granite coach Randy Smee thinks Herrera, while an atypical third-round qualifier, may present a different challenge Hromadkova’s not accustomed to.

“She gets to a lot of balls that they don’t expect,” Smee said. “She returns some in a manner that they don’t expect. They’re not used to it because most of these are club players that expect a ball to come a certain way. Sarah isn’t a club player so she doesn’t give the ball that way. It kind of works to her benefit sometimes to be a little unconventional.”

Today’s match, like her match against Immanuel’s Tiffany Friesen, will likely be well-attended — something that is not a problem for Herrera.

“I love a big crowd,” she said. Every time (the Immanuel crowd) screamed for her (Friesen), I was just like, ‘I’m gonna make them scream for me. I’m gonna make them say, ‘‘Oh, nice shot.’’ I just feed off it.”

Whenever Monache plays, most eyes usually follow the girl with the best stroke in the EYL. Martinez went 24-0 in league singles play then breezed through the EYL tournament, dropping just two total games in the weekend (both to Herrera), but today, she’ll play an unfamiliar role.

“I kind of like being the underdog because I have nothing to lose at all,” Martinez said. “In the EYL, I’m not the underdog so I’m kind of expected to win. So I do get nervous for that.”

Martinez does get tennis lessons, but does not classify herself as a “club” player like the ones that headline today’s brackets.

“Compared to girls I’m gonna play in Valley, I’m not a club player,” she said. “I have gotten lessons, I have played tournaments. In a year, I maybe play three tournaments. These girls I’m gonna be playing, the club players, they play in tournaments twice a month. They go to a separate practice after school practice. They have coaches. Compared to that, I’m not a club player.”

She said the mental aspect of the sport is the biggest difference between her sophomore and junior seasons.

“Tennis is a big mental game and I’ve been able to mentally stay in it, dictate points and take the shot when I have it,” Martinez said. “I control the point. I’m not gonna let her run me around the court, I’m gonna run her around the court and then when I have a winning shot I’ll take it.”

That game plan has destroyed every singles foe in the last two months, but will be much tougher to execute today. Martinez actually has a tougher draw than Herrera in the bracket in No. 2 Lyndsay Cooke, a Bakersfield Christian senior, who is a two-time Valley runner-up (to Redwood’s top-seeded Gabrielle Gatewood).

“She’s a very smooth player, very consistent, smart,” Monache coach Gary Perez said of Cooke. “Probably just the quality of shot is gonna be consistent, stroke after stroke after stroke. It’s gonna be the kind of player where if you’re gonna hit six shots, she’s gonna be willing to hit seven.”

Herrera and Martinez are enjoying the attention that comes with being the lone Valley entrant from their respective school.

“I have a lot of teachers coming up to me (saying), ‘So you’re the tennis player?’ Especially a lot of the guy teachers because they do read the sports section of the newspaper,” Martinez said. “A lot of students too, it’s nice. I like it.”

Both know the odds are stacked heavily against them to advance to the quarterfinals (also held this afternoon at Redwood High), but Herrera would be happy if either advanced as Porterville would have a place in a club usually reserved for the big-city players.

“I’d be happy if (Martinez) won because at least one of us would still be in it,” she said. “We’d be representing Porterville and that’s all I really want. I want Porterville to have a name and people to be like, ‘OK, there’s tennis players from there. Those girls can play.’”

A Jump in Competition

Both Orange Belt third-round qualifiers face top-5 seeds at the

Valley Individual Tournament

Local Matches

No. 15 Jasmine Martinez vs. No. 2 Lyndsay Cooke (Bakersfield Christian)

Sarah Herrera vs. No. 5 Denisa Hromadkova

(Frontier)

Both matches are set for 9 a.m. at Redwood High