They fell in the quarterfinals to defending champs and top seed Brynn Boren and Kristina Smith (Dana Hills), 6-0, 6-2 in the CIF-SS girls doubles championships at the Seal Beach tennis center. But Valencia’s doubles team of Natalie McKay and Candace Wu were a long way from the final eight.

The Tigers seniors trailed Palm Desert’s Regina Suarez and Morgan McIntosh 1-5 in the third set in the Round of 16. Two Mondays ago in Valencia’s team CIF championship victory, Larissa Yates and Felecia Hsu came back from 1-5 and won in a tiebreaker.

Wu and McKay followed the same fate, pulling the match out 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (3).

“The key thing was the mental part,” McKay said. “I lost confidence in my strokes. The key thing was to hit it.”

Said Wu, “Mentally we would stop paying attention. We needed to stay aggressive.”

The two-time Empire League doubles champions made the Round of 16 this year. They were two of seven county players to reach the quarterfinals in either singles or doubles. They normally play No. 2 and 3 singles for the Tigers and both swept in singles in the team’s CIF finals match.

“Those girls have helped carry us for four years,” said Tigers coach Mike McCall, whose teams have won three consecutive CIF titles.  “They came in as freshman and helped turn it around.”

• Girls tennis: Beckman’s Heheghan falls in tough quarterfinal

• Girls tennis: Friday’s semifinals are set

• Dana Hills postseason party continues
• First look at Round of 16

• Girls tennis: CIF finals recap; 3 county teams win titles

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