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Liberty duo overcame adversity and low seed

BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
e-mail: zewing@bakersfield.com | Friday, Dec 28 2007 10:15 PM

Last Updated: Friday, Dec 28 2007 10:17 PM

By the time Estefiana Limpias and Darcy Smith reached the Central Section doubles tournament, Liberty coach Stephanie Ollivier wasn't concerned about their No. 5 seed.

She had already watched Smith overcome a broken pinky finger and a sore neck and Limpias get past an eye infection during the season, so it came as no surprise when they swept the section's No. 12 team in the round of 16 and the No. 4 team in the quarterfinals.

Then Limpias and Smith went all the way, beating Stockdale teams seeded No. 1 and No. 6 in the semifinal and championship rounds. The Liberty duo is The Californian's All-Area Doubles Team of the Year.

"From the beginning (of the season), you could just tell," Ollivier said. "... I knew there was a little bit of magic in that doubles team."

Limpias and Smith lost only twice until the Southeast Yosemite League final, when they lost to the Bakersfield High team of Felina Kelly and Emily Carnal, but that result cost the Liberty team in seeding.

Stockdale's Frances Ellison and Hannah Beene were given the top seed, folowed by a Clovis East team, Kelly/Carnal and a Buchanan duo.

"I didn't know what to expect," Ollivier said. "I knew they could do it, but they had their little things that happened, like Darcy's finger and Stefi's really bad eye infection."

But the tribulation apparently made Limpias and Smith stronger. They cruised into a semifinal meeting with Ellison and Beene, where they won the first set 6-2 but lost the second 7-5.

"I thought they had them beat," Smith recalled. "We had to go to the third set, so we just told each other to forget about the first two and just play this one like it was beginning of match."

A dominating 6-1 performance later, and the Liberty team was in the finals, where it swept past Stockdale's No. 2 doubles team.

It was a crowning achievement for two players who had had modest success in singles but blossomed into doubles champions.

"Coach put us together for our first match, and we knew right away that we worked together," Smith said. "She's more of a power hitter, and I'm more of a get-everything-back, more of a defensive player.

"We were a very close team, and we went through a lot together. ... I loved playing doubles with Stefi."