Heading into Wednesday's division II championship match against Orland, the Live Oak tennis team hadn't lost since September 8. It was the Trojans that beat them then, and it was likely the two would meet again in the postseason.

Orland had beaten Live Oak in the division championship a year before, but not this time. The Lady Lions got two key wins in the middle of the ladder and beat the Trojans 5-4 to claim the title.

Live Oak (17-2) first beat a much improved Gridley team 5-0 on Tuesday in their first round match. Both teams were frustrated with the strong winds, but adjusted nicely.

Jennifer DeWitt beat Tina Vasquez (4-6, 6-0, 6-3), Daniela Dumitras beat Skylee Canada (6-3, 6-3), Alora Sutcliffe beat Andrea Gutierrez (6-2, 6-1), Melissa Anderson beat Hannah Richins (6-1, 6-1) and Kayla Morris beat Celina Morales (6-4, 6-2). At No. 4, Fermina Chavez won the first set 6-2, while Clancy Waite won the second set 6-2. With the match's outcome already determined by this point, the girls didn't play a third set. Doubles also weren't needed.

Gridley coach Linda McDowell was proud of the effort her team put up against Live Oak.

"I look at performance, I don't look at the score," she said. "And that's what I tell my girls, 'If you put 100 percent into your game, I'm happy for you win or lose.' As long as I can see that you're trying, then I'm happy and you should be very pleased with yourself."

The Lady Bulldogs finished the year 7-5 overall and 6-2 in the Butte View League, where they earned second place just behind the Trojans. Their only two league losses came to the No 1. seeded Orland.

"I thought they did very well," McDowell said of the season. "I was very proud of each and every one of them. They succeeded to my expectations."

Orland had beaten Live Oak 7-2 in their regular season meeting, with Anderson and Morris the only winners. They were expected to win again, while it was likely Orland would take the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches. The key would be Sutcliffe and Chavez at No. 3 and No. 4.   

Live Oak did in fact lose the first two singles matches, while Anderson (6-1, 6-0) and Morris (6-0, 6-1) easily won their matches.

Chavez won 6-2 in the first set, and then trailed 4-5 in the second before winning three games to take the set 7-5.

"That was really huge, because that was the third win," coach Greg Sanchez said. "We felt like we had to have that to give us a chance to win two of three doubles matches."

Sutcliffe, the Sacramento Valley League singles champion, beat Erica Vaquera for the first time in several attempts. She lost the first set 3-6 and was trailing in the second set before making a comeback to win 7-5. She also won the third set 7-5 to give the Lions a 4-2 lead heading into doubles.

"There were no matches going on, so everybody was watching these two play," Sanchez said. "It was really tight at the end. Alora pulled it out 7-5 in the third set, so that was gigantic. She's been playing so well and so tough, to win that match was crucial going into doubles, especially the way it turned out."

The two wins in the middle of the ladder meant Live Oak needed only one win in doubles for the championship, and that's what they got.

Anderson and Lucero Topete won 6-3 in the first set, and were up 4-2 in the second until Orland's No. 3 doubles team tied it at 4-4. With everything now riding on this doubles match, the pair got back on track and forced Orland into mistakes, winning 6-4.

The Lions began jumping up and down and celebrating, while Sutcliffe and Chavez were still finishing their doubles match, which they eventually lost.

"We had to kind of have two little celebrations," Sanchez said. "They were down because they lost their match, but those two girls were the girls that really set us up to win the championship. We wouldn't have won it had they not won those two matches in the middle."

The season is not over for Live Oak, who will send six players to the northern section singles and doubles championship tournament this Saturday at Foothill High School in Palo Cedro. No other team in the section is sending as many players as Live Oak.

On either Wednesday or Thursday of next week, they'll face division I runner-up Pleasant Valley High School to determine the second representative to the Nor Cal Championships in Oakley, CA on November 20 and 21.