Beauty on the baselines

The climb to the top of the Gila Valley Region mountain has been a long and painful one for Julissa Dominguez and her San Luis teammates.

After struggling through volleyball season and having her soccer season cut short by an ankle injury, the time had arrived for Dominguez to accomplish something four years in the making.

With the chance to clinch a region title outright against Cibola, Dominguez set the tone by beating Cibola's Andrea Castro in singles for the first time and helped the Sidewinders sweep the doubles play for a 5-4 win.

"Before the match I knew we needed the game to win," she said. "I was crying before the match and looking to God for something, and when I beat her my teammates were like, 'You're my hero.'"

The breakthrough victory was just one of the high points for Dominguez this year as The Sun/Yuma Rotary Club Girls Tennis Player of the Year.

"Tennis is what I felt I was best at," she said. "I've had more of a connection with the coach having her all four years, and I've been No. 1 (singles) since my sophomore season. They'd put me against these big girls from big schools, and finally my senior year I started beating some of them."

Dominguez said her favorite match of the season was against Yuma's Priscilla Coronado, another three-sport athlete who'd been on the winning side of most their meetings. Coronado won their first confrontation handily at the Magin Invite, but in region play Dominguez came out on top with a 6-4, 6-7 (10-8) win.

"We played for three hours and went to a tiebreaker three or four times," she said. "I couldn't believe it."

Rather than play singles at the 5A-II state tournament, Dominguez and doubles partner Ariana Huerta joined forces and reached the quarterfinal round. The two pushed their opponents from Deer Valley to a third set before bowing out 7-6. 4-6, 6-4.

"I knew I was better off doing doubles in state because I'm better with strategy and I've been really good with my alley shots and lobs this year," she said. "I love those shots now."