Maya Alvarez woke up nervous on Friday.
With her high school tennis getting close to the finish line, the Millikan senior had finally advanced to the finals of Moore League Tennis Finals at the Billie Jean King Center.
“It was on my mind since the minute I woke up,” Alvarez said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
Standing in her way of a title was Wilson freshman Vanessa Holden and the duo split their two regular season matchups.
The final was a different story as Alvarez controlled the match en route to a straight-set victory, 6-3, 6-4, to win the 2021 Moore League girls’ tennis singles championship.
“It feels amazing,” she said.
While Alvarez led throughout the first set (2-0 and 5-3), the rallies were long as they went back and forth with high lobs and it was game of who would make the first error.
“It was the mental games,” Alvarez said. “I just stayed patient and told myself this is how I am going to win.”
Alvarez led the second set 2-1 and 5-2, but Holden won the next two games before Alvarez closed out the match.
Alvarez said she planned to celebrate with a nice dessert.
“I haven’t had one all week.”
The duo from CAMS of Jodi Chang and Emma Lim beat Holden and Bruins sophomore Vivian Hall (who lost the third place singles match) 6-1, 7-6 in the doubles final.
Brackets for the CIF team playoffs will be released on Monday.
