On Tuesday, Oct. 29, varsity girls’ tennis dominated Mills High School 7-0 in the first round of the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) tournament. Burlingame’s Oct. 30 rematch against Aragon High School resulted in a decisive 5-2 victory for the Panthers, securing the PAL Team Tournament championship and a guaranteed place for the Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs.

Sophomore Shea Mulready and junior Samantha Tom maintained their dominance in singles’ play, winning 7-5, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-2.

“Shea played solid, and really held the number one position,” head coach Doug Stone said. “Sam was very consistent and absolutely wore her opponent down.”

After losing to Aragon just a week prior, junior Evelyn Du made a comeback with a dominant 6-3, 6-0 win, marking one of her best matches of the season.

“She played probably one of her best matches this year,” Doug said. “She was amazing.”

Another standout performance came from the doubles team of senior Ella Wang and junior Lyra Sheng, redeeming their previous tiebreak loss to Aragon with a 6-4, 6-1 victory that helped Burlingame clinch the tournament win.

Following the team contest, Burlingame’s top players participated in the PAL Individuals tournament from Nov. 5 to 7. The Panthers were given priority in the tournament for securing the PAL team title, allowing them to send an extra singles player and doubles team.

On Tuesday, Nov. 5, senior Natalie Gyde won her opening round match against Half Moon Bay’s Lauren McClellan, securing a 6-2, 6-2 victory, before losing to the fourth seed, Menlo Atherton’s Marissa Hou. Freshman Greta Martin, who solely played doubles throughout the season, stepped up in singles and secured a first-round win against fifth-seeded Rishika Mukherejee from San Mateo, before falling to an opponent from Carlmont.

Mulready, the tournament’s third seed in singles, reached the semi-finals but lost to Carlmont, narrowly missing an automatic spot to CCS, reserved for finalists.

In doubles, fourth-seeded Tom and Du advanced to the semifinals, but the duo finished in third place after losing to the Scots.

“I’ve been playing singles the whole season, so it was a little different to what I was used to,” Sam said. “But I think me and Evelyn did really well. We really persevered and concentrated.”

Girls’ tennis: A season in review

After a standout 11-3 regular season, the Panthers now advance to the CCS team playoff tournament, beginning on Monday, Nov. 11.

Despite facing strong competition in the PAL Bay and tying Aragon at the season’s close, Burlingame remained resilient in their quest for victory.

“We had a great year. We kept getting better,” Stone said. “We never took off our pedal. We kept it on the floor the whole way.”

Carlmont, with an undefeated 14-0 record, held an automatic berth for CCS, leaving Burlingame, Aragon, Menlo-Atherton (MA), and Ocean Division leader Mills High School to battle for a coveted PAL title and a second CCS spot.

“Carlmont was just a better team. They had more depth and were just a little more solid than we were,” Stone said.

Burlingame earned the top seed after defeating Aragon 5-2 in a critical match on Oct. 1, compared to Aragon’s closer 4-3 victory in their matchup on Oct. 24.

“That Aragon game at the end is a little bit of a tough loss, but we fought hard,” Stone said. “Even when we lost, we were always fighting. And I think we knew we could win that match, which is exactly why we came back and won it the next week.”

The team hopes to take advantage of their regular season and PAL tournament momentum into the CCS matches this week.

“To have our season continue at this point was always a goal of ours, but I would say we approached that goal every week with hard practice and not taking anything for granted in any match ever, and that’s what I think made the difference,” Stone said.