Martinez, Herrera eliminated in 3rd round

No. 2 seed Lyndsay Cooke (Bakersfield Christian) and No. 5 seed Denisa Hromadkova (Frontier) ousted the No. 15 seed, Monache’s Jasmine Martinez and unseeded Sarah Herrera in the third round of the Valley Individual Tournament, Friday morning, marking the end of the Orange Belt’s girls tennis season.

Cooke and Martinez went to deuce in every game in the first set, but the two-time Valley runner-up was simply too much for the two-time EYL champion, winning 6-0, 6-0).

“It was one of those days where the scores weren’t indicative of the play,” Monache coach Gary Perez said. “Every game in the first set went to deuce; they went back and forth. But Lyndsay Cooke just didn’t make any mistakes.”

Hromadkova lost the first game of the match to the top Grizzly, but rediscovered her form, winning 6-1, 6-1.

“(Herrera) played really well, she had one of the closest matches on a day where the winners were just dominant,” Granite coach Randy Smee said. “Sarah showed up with her full arsenal and made her earn every point.”

Smee said Hromadkova had tremendous finesse and landed several drop shots when Herrera was playing away from the net.