Doubles comeback saves season

The Porterville girls’ tennis team had one match to win to propel it to the Valley finals.

Luckily, the No. 1-seeded Panthers had their unbeaten doubles tandem on the court.

But seniors Nancy Valdez and Alecia Gonzales were 3 points on the wrong side of a tiebreaker and, after a controversial line call went against them, the Huskies’ No. 2 duo of Miranda Banuelos and Melanie Reynolds had all the momentum.

“I don’t think we’ve ever been in a situation like that,” Valdez said.

The rosters of both squads gathered near the middle court’s fence and it appeared the No. 4 Huskies were ready to hand the Panthers another playoff upset. But the senior pair in orange mounted an out-of-nowhere rally, scoring five straight points to take an 8-6 lead.

Three points later, Gonzales sealed the win when a retreating Banuelos couldn’t return her backhand lob shot.

Both players embraced after their 10-7 tiebreaker win and an ecstatic Kurt Nielsen and the rest of the Panthers sprinted onto the court in celebration of their 5-4 Division III semifinal victory.

“It was the best shot she’s ever hit,” Valdez said of Gonzales’ final backhand. “It’s a good feeling to know you’re going to Valley your senior year.”

Nielsen, who has coached many athletes and watched thousands of matches at higher levels, said his No. 2 doubles team’s win ranked right up there with the best.

“This is as good as it gets, just unbelievable,” Nielsen said.

Nielsen’s second pair has not been beaten in two years, but they had been flying under the radar during the Panthers’ EYL ride. But after Shiloah Gibson and Alisia Scudder wrapped up a 6-0, 6-4 victory in the near court and Brena Simpson and Nicole Ervin were downed by Gabbie Pascal and Stephanie Garcia (6-2, 6-2), all eyes were on them.

They took the first set in relative anonymity 6-2, but Reynolds and Banuelos stormed back in the second, winning 6-0.

“I think definitely the first set, their confidence was way down,” Gonzales said. “Then in the second set as they started to win more games, their confidence was boosted.”

After Valdez — and most of the Panther faithful in attendance — disputed a Reynolds line call at the end of the second set, two line judges joined the foursome for the season-determining tiebreaker.

Nielsen attempted to calm the pair but midway through the tiebreaker, another Reynolds call set off both squads.

Down 5-3 with emotions still high after the previous dispute, Gonzales felt her shot nicked the back line. The Husky tandem disagreed. So did the line judges. With neither judge willing to concede the point, the original ruling stood, meaning Valdez and Gonzales were potentially down to their last few minutes of their tennis careers.

Nielsen said Reynolds’ call was correct and that his team was getting a bit flustered by the pressure.

“You could just feel the intensity of that match,” Gonzales said.

Three Hanford West errors knotted the match at six, however, and Gonzales landed two shots, both forehands, that the Huskies couldn’t return, giving the Panthers an improbable 8-6 advantage. Following yet another dispute — this time over the score — Banuelos smashed a forehand to cut the lead to one.

But the seasoned Panther team wasn’t going to give the lead away this time, as Gonzales stretched for a forehand return, catching Reynolds off guard, then got to celebrate with her team after Banuelos’ racket whiffed on her backhand lob shot.

“You’ve just gotta want it to win it; it’s that simple,” Gonzales said. “We wanted it more than anything.”

Gonzales took her singles match 6-0, 5-7 (10-5) and is still undefeated this season. Gibson shut out the Huskies’ No. 1 player, Hayley Herron, 6-0, 6-0 while Scudder topped Banuelos 6-1, 6-4.

Scudder landed the final three points to close the key doubles match, one a placement shot that landed near the left boundary line, the next a forehand that ricochetted off Angie Martinez’s racket and the third a running match-ending blast that split the two Huskies.

No. 6 singles player Nettie Roman lost a close match to Reynolds, 7-5, 7-5 to close out round one.

Porterville will host No. 2 Tehachapi, which eked out a close, 5-4 victory over No. 3 Clovis North, Tuesday night. The Warriors ended the 2008 Panthers’ season, 6-3, on Porterville’s home court in the semifinals.

Tehachapi rearranged its lineup to edge the Panthers last year. Nielsen expects no different this time around.

“They’ll be creative in singles and good in doubles, he said. “It’s safe to say that we’re not the favorite. Tehachapi is as tough of a team as you’ll see in the Valley.”

This program has never won a Valley championship. Its last finals appearance ended in a 6-0 loss to Highland in 2006.

The Division III final match is set to start at 1 p.m., Thursday, at Porterville High.