Thornberg, Dickson finish third at CCCAA State Doubles Championships!
OJAI -- The doubles team of Nikki Thornberg and Haley Dickson left a memorable mark in Orange Coast College women's tennis history with an impressive third-place state finish at the 2014 California Community College Athletic Association State Tennis Championships.
Dickson and Thornberg -- one of two No. 2 seeds entering the tournament -- did not disappoint, cruising to straight-set wins through their early matches. They topped Kaya James and Apurua Sharma in the Round of 64 (6-0, 6-3), Dora Do and Gurwant Khabra in the Round of 32 (6-1, 6-0), Jaelia Conway and Marlayna Durant in the Round of 16 (6-3, 6-4) and CHelsea Corby and Suzanne Lin in the quarterfinals (6-3, 6-3).
In the state semifinals, the Pirate pair took on Sierra's Stephanie Ramos and Jacqueline Ward and in the opening set, they stunned the No. 1 seed with a 6-4 win. But, Ramos and Ward regrouped and evened the match with a 6-2 win in the second set, forcing a super tiebreaker. From there, Ramos and Ward advanced to the tourney title match with a 10-5 win.
Dickson had a busy weekend of tennis as she also advanced to the Round of 16 in singles play, thanks to wins over Sydney Hunt in the Round of 64 (6-2, 6-0) and Sarah Edwards in the Round of 32 (6-3, 6-2). Her singles run ended, however, with a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Leticia Dos Santos.
Thornberg, OCC's captain throughout the 2014 season, picked up a Round of 64 win over Yannick Garcia (6-3, 6-3) before falling, 6-0, 6-1 to Maya Mammetgulyeva in the Round of 32.
OCC teammate Mai Hashimoto opened her state tourney with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Macy Elliott in the opening round, before falling to Rose Sgolsutyatorn, 6-1, 6-1.
Hashimoto and her doubles partner, Nadine Baquiran advanced to the Round of 32 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Meghedi Mooradian and Ashley Sumudio, but lost there, 6-2, 6-4, to Elliott and Mammetgulyeva.
The Pirates, under first-year head coach Michelle Esquivel, finished the 2014 season 14-3 overall advanced all the way to the Southern California Regional Championship before losing to eventual state-champion, Fullerton.
