4A Sunset: Bishop Gorman girls, Clark boys win titles

The rule of thumb to be a member of Bishop Gorman’s girls tennis team is simple: everyone must learn to play doubles.

Since Gordon Hammond knows there isn’t an blueprint for drawing up pairings — as it could be based off talent level, personality or friendship — the Gaels coach constantly alters his lineup.

“We never have a set lineup until like the very, very end,” Gorman senior Emma Figueredo said. “Even then, it’s still shaky. We just all play with each other and see which ones work. The 1-2-3 (lineup placement) doesn’t even matter. We can all play.”

And they showed that in the Class 4A Sunset Region final Thursday.

Figueredo and Madison Winston, and Olivia Maalouf and Karissa Matthews each went 3-0 in doubles to help the Gaels secure their second region title in three seasons with an 11-7 victory over Faith Lutheran at Darling Tennis Center.

With Olivia Balelo and Giovanna Chaparro going 2-1, the doubles teams won eight of the possible nine points to pace Gorman (15-1).

“It’s something I don’t set at the beginning of the year,” Hammond said. “They just learn. There are a couple of combinations (today), where they didn’t play (together) a couple weeks ago. …

“It’s just the way I’ve done it over the years. They play with a lot of different partners throughout the year.”

Figueredo, who won a state doubles title last year with Angelique Friedrich, played with Winston for only the second time this season. That newness didn’t matter.

“I played with her for the first time yesterday,” Figueredo said. “We played really good, so we played again today. …

“We always go for strong doubles teams.”

Emma Kanne, Courtney Wolfson and Lauren Soong each earned a point in singles to put Gorman over the top.

Jade Mayweather and Kennedy Barr both went 3-0 in singles for Faith Lutheran (15-4), which will face Green Valley (10-3) in a state play-in match at The Meadows on Oct. 16.

Boys

Jordan Zimmel has a tennis background.

But the Clark staffer did not expect to take over for Chargers coach Clarence Chun midway through the season.

“All I was told is that we had a good team and that we were shooting for regionals, shooting for playoffs,” Zimmel said. “Once we beat Gorman, I knew we were one of the top teams.”

That they are.

Clark (17-0) worked its way to an 11-7 victory over Palo Verde (13-3) to win the Class 4A Sunset Region final at the Darling Tennis Center on Thursday afternoon.

Chun took a leave of absence for health reasons midway through the season and Zimmel stepped in to take over the team, guiding it to an unbeaten record.

“I’m just doing the best I can to help out,” he said.

Michael Pasimio and Simran Shah were 3-0 in doubles for the Chargers, and Artem Iermolov posted a 3-0 mark in singles. Zimmel raved about Iermolov and praised his contributions throughout the season, and on Thursday.

“You don’t ever count on a win, but we can think to oursevles ‘Wow, he can get us three wins today,’” Zimmel said. “If you can get three from one player, that’s a really big deal. He’s an awesome player.”