Girls tennis: Marotto, Giants stand tall in MCAL finals

Long before she was a star for the Redwood High girls tennis team, Jordan Marotto was looking forward to being a Giant.

As a young player at Mt. Tam Racquet Club in Larkspur, Marotto remembers watching the Redwood girls practice at the club, which is just down the street from the school.

“Whenever I was playing there with my mom or getting a lesson, I’d always see some high schoolers from Redwood and I would look over at the next court and admire them and be in awe,” said Marotto.

Amid a season beyond her dreams, Marotto won her first MCAL singles title on Wednesday with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Marin Catholic’s Maya Mosher.

Marotto was joined in the winner’s circle by Redwood teammates Annesley Krawitt and Ella Povio, who beat fellow Giants Lindsey Reed and Gwenn Ricordel 6-1, 6-4 for the MCAL doubles titles.

The Giants had already won the MCAL regular-season and playoff team titles, and then swept singles and doubles on Thursday.

“Now to be on a winning team — Redwood — and be at the place I am now, being surrounded by teammates that won doubles and I won singles — I never could have pictured that,” said Marotto.

Next up on the Giants’ checklist is the North Coast Section Division I team tournament, which starts Nov. 7. The seeding meeting takes place Sunday.

“This year we are really united as a team and we have a shared common goal, which has propelled us to win both individuals and team in MCAL,” said Marotto. “Our team goal was to win MCALs, then next individuals, then NCS, and then maybe we’ll go to State. Now we’re focused on NCS.”

Marotto overcame a 4-1 first-set deficit to do her part. Like turning on a light switch, falling behind early actually works for Marotto in some strange way.

“I like being down honestly,” Marotto admitted. “It puts me in a place where I’m a lot more consistent and focused.”

That’s an understatement. Marotto won five straight games to grab the first set, digging into her bag of tricks for timely drop shots followed by riveting passing groundstrokes. Marotto then went ahead 3-0 before Mosher’s stellar all-court movement and anticipation, especially on the drop shots, allowed her to climb back in the match.

The 5-foot-10 sophomore from Marin Catholic came up with two huge breaks of serve to go ahead 6-5 in the second set, running down a drop shot and ripping it for a winner to move one game away from splitting sets. Marotto came right back to tie the set at 6-all and force a tiebreaker.

Even though Marotto led 3-0 and 4-2 in the tiebreaker, Mosher ran down ball after ball to stay in the match. The final point lasted more than 30 hits before Marotto prevailed.

“Jordan just grinded it out,” said Redwood coach Tracey Porter. “She’s not feeling well and she just put her head down and did it.”

In the third-place singles match, Branson’s Audrey Gilmor defeated teammate Katie Warrin 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Tam’s Amelie Stoker and Sophia Tiemens won the third-place doubles match 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 over San Marin’s Catania Dekeyrel and Aashna Selvaraj.