The562’s coverage of Long Beach tennis is sponsored by the Long Beach State Tennis Boosters.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
Photo and additional reporting by Roxy Kuper-Wilson
The Wilson girls’ tennis team improved its record to 17-3 with a first-round playoff win over Hemet on Wednesday afternoon. The Bruins got out to a great start and held on for an 11-7 victory over the Bulldogs to open the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs.
Wilson got off to a great start in singles play, sweeping the first six matches while only dropping three games combined. The singles trio of Vanessa Holden, Vivian Hall and Irit Paiement each went 6-0 and 6-1 to start their playoffs, allowing some alternates to hit the court for round three once the result was in hand. Bella-Paloma Billingslea won her singles match 6-0 after subbing in for the final round.
The Bruins’ doubles team of Andreea Trolesi and Brooke Burke won two of their three matches against the Bulldogs, 6-4 and 6-0.
A tough test awaits in round two as Wilson will host No. 3 seed Los Alamitos on Friday at 2 p.m. The Griffins were champions of the Wave League, coming in at 12-3 overall. Los Al dominated its first-round opponent, defeating Westridge, 17-1.
Wilson is the only Long Beach team still alive in the 2022 girls’ tennis playoffs. In Division 3, Millikan lost its wild card match against Saugus, 10-8, while Long Beach Poly fell by an identical scoreline in its wild card matchup with Agoura.
