Piedmont High School’s doubles team of Kate Jumper and Arianna Kortum made it to the semifinals of the North Coast Section Division 2 girls tennis tournament before losing to eventual champions Ann and Jane McDermott of Marin Academy.
The tournament began on November 18 at Vintage High-Napa. Jumper and Kortum drew College Prep’s Sophia Britton and Gia Chhabra in the first round and defeated them, 6-3, 6-1. Then, Jumper and Kortum beat Arcata’s Iris Besmer and Kloee Donnelly, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“The final set was nearly called for darkness but the girls finished it off just in time,” Highlanders coach Jim Landes said.
On November 19, the McDermotts powered their way to a 6-2, 6-0 victory. They then downed Lick-Wilmerding-San Francisco’s Gigi Donohoe and Maahir Gupta, 7-5, 7-5 to win the championship.
Piedmont’s Carolina Romanczuk drew top seed Lily Bazemore of North Coast Prep-Arcata in the first round of the singles tournament and lost, 6-2, 6-0.
“For the first four games, Carolina surprised her opponent with fabulous, deep groundstrokes that shows she can go toe to toe with the best. She just needs to keep practicing at that level and then four great games will turn into six and then another six,” Landes said.
Jumper and Kortum qualified for the NCS tournament by taking second at the West Alameda County Conference championships November 8-9. Romanczuk qualified by finishing fourth. Faith Chin was fifth in singles.
The Highlanders also competed in the NCS Division 2 team playoffs. In the first round on November 12, Piedmont beat visiting Urban-San Francisco, 6-1. Jumper played No. 2 singles and defeated Greta Rechtin, 6-2, 6-2. Kortum also played singles, winning the No. 3 match over Riley Burnett, 6-1, 6-3. Chin beat Olivia Stanton at No. 4, 6-0, 6-2.
Urban’s Phoebe Miller downed Romanczuk in the No. 1 match, 6-4, 6-3.
The Highlanders swept the doubles with Madeline Tran and Emma Chan beating Hazel Richter and Valerie Cunningham, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2. Inara Mehta and Abigail Call defeated Kaya Downs and Charlotte Lefkowicz at No. 2, 6-2, 6-1. And Alina Shanid and Lila Rosen won the No. 3 match by default.
On November 15, visiting Marin Academy beat Piedmont in the second round. The Wildcats took three of four singles matches with No. 1 Eloise Sent beating Romanczuk, 6-4, 6-1. Amelia Thomas defeated Jumper at No. 2, 6-2, 6-4. Ann McDermott downed Kortum at No. 3, 6-3, 6-1. Chin beat Sasha Seid at No. 4, 6-3, 6-1.
In doubles, Marin Academy’s Jane McDermott and Lily Weaver downed Samantha Huynh and Emma Eisemon at No. 1, 6-3, 6-1. Lily Weaver and Rahi Haddad beat Tran and Chan at No. 2, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Mehta and Call defeated Chloe George and Walker Young at No. 3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
Piedmont finished the season 10-10.