The Scotts Valley High School doubles team of senior Nicole LaPorte and sophomore Desi Rakela took second in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League after making a surprise push into the finals.
After both played singles all season long, LaPorte and Rakela came together as the No. 4 doubles seed in the tournament to upset No. 2 Andrea Servin and Grace Harrison of Soquel on Wednesday, Oct. 30.
The following day, the duo fell 6-3, 7-6 (7-0) to the top seeded Teagan Knight and Kelly McMinn of Aptos in the final.
“It’s pretty cool,” said LaPorte. “I never expected to get this far. I thought ‘this will be fun, we’ll play one match and be done’.”
Head coach Judy Newman said the duo started off slowly in the final, but played well in forcing a tie-breaker in the second game.
“The second set was anybody’s match,” Newman said. “Their team cohesion was good. They played together and supported each other every single point.”
Newman said she’s going to lobby for the Scotts Valley girls to get receive an at-large bid into the Central Coast Section tournament.
The Aptos team, as winners, earned an automatic bid.
St. Francis junior Caroline Casper won the SCCAL singles title.
