APTOS — Aptos High senior Tiana Smith, the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League’s newly crowned singles tennis champion, was still letting her unexpected title victory sink in when she heard cheers from her teammates a few courts away.

Smith, the No. 4 seed, had several long rallies in her straight-sets win over No. 2 Francesca Garces, a sophomore at Santa Cruz, but she had enough energy to sprint to teammates Holly Hegna and Coral Collins, the newly crowned doubles champion, and greet them with a hug and cheers.

Mariners coach Tamara Brown and assistant Sam Brown like to tell their girls to go “Beast Mode’ on the court, and that’s exactly what they got from their youngsters in a sweep at the SCCAL Championship at Imperial Courts on Wednesday.

Smith rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to pull off a 6-4, 6-3 over Garces and avenge a three-set loss to the Cardinals’ young talent in the regular season.

Hegna and Collins, the No. 1 seed, were in jeopardy of dropping the second set and going to a third-set tiebreaker, but posted a huge rally to defeat Scotts Valley juniors Sofia Niklaus and Erin Szymanski, the No. 2 seed, 6-4, 7-5.

Hegna and Collins trailed 3-0 and were down 40-love in the fourth game of the second set when they began to mount a comeback. Facing a 5-3 deficit later in the set, they broke the Falcons’ service twice and won the final four games to emerge with a rewarding straight-sets victory.

The Mariners trio, who helped their team go unbeaten in the regular season, extended their season yet again.

Aptos (8-2, 8-0) will compete in the Central Coast Section Team Championships beginning Nov. 6.

Smith will represent the SCCAL in the CCS Singles Championships, which begin Nov. 13, and Hegna and Collins, begin play in the CCS Doubles Championships on Nov. 14.

Smith was beyond giddy after knocking off Garces, Her jubilation was carried over from a day earlier, when she won a pair of matches, including a 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6) stunner over No. 1 Isla Garcia-McDougall of Soquel in the semifinals. It was the first loss this season for the Knights’ star.

“It’s insane that I won,” Smith said. “It’s insane that I beat Isla in the second round, and it’s insane that I beat Francesca today, especially losing to her the first time I played her this season. I’m just on top of the world right now.”

Smith said she had nothing to lose when she stepped onto the court against Garcia-McDougall and played pressure-free. And after posting the win, she assessed her chances of winning in the final and figured, “Why not?” She was sick with a respiratory infection during their first meeting, and proved this time around that she wasn’t going to tire so easily.

“This time, I though, ‘Just get one more ball back,’ ” said Smith, who not only chased down apparent winners from Garces, she hit winning return shots. “Just keep pushing her until one of us drops.”

Smith has had a meteoric rise for the Mariners over the past two seasons. As a freshman and sophomore, she didn’t crack the starting lineup.

“I met her last year and said, ‘You have the heart of a lion. You can go as far as you want to go with this.’ ” said Tamara Brown, who is in her second season as head coach.

“I believed that every day with her. It’s just there. Her heart is this big,” said Brown, holding her hands at shoulders width. “It’s like that Grinch heart. It just gets really big. She can step up, she can figure things out. It doesn’t matter if she’s down a break or a set. I have seen her come back and never say die.”

Garces found success charging the net early, but Smith did her best to keep opponent running and attacked her backhand when she could.

Garces held her head high after the loss, knowing that she hit some quality shots and a solid game to build upon. She said she focused on ball placement over power, and tried to keep Smith on the run. Unlike their first meeting, Smith didn’t tire.

“I think I had a lot of good shots, but she was very consistent and got basically everything I hit to her, so it was really hard playing her,” Garces said. “And she played really good.”

A year ago, Hegna claimed the SCCAL singles title and advanced to CCS, and Niklaus advanced to the doubles competition after winning the league doubles title with Emma Dyc-O’Neal.

Hegna was also a finalist in the SCCAL doubles final two years ago. Her personal experience and history of playing doubles with Collins paid dividends.

Hegna and Collins both played singles during the regular season, but they’ve teamed up as doubles partners at several tennis clinics over the years.

“I think what helped us today was the connection of our personal relationship, and bringing us with each other,” Hegna said.

Collins agreed. “Exactly,” she said. “We just bring each other up. We just have so much fun together. It’s honestly just a blessing to be able play with each other.”

The duo said their keeping expectations modest for CCS. They both know the talent level in the Bay Area and beyond is pretty high. They plan to keep having fun and see how things play out.

“It’s just so much fun, honestly,” Collins said. “You just go in with no real expectations for it and then you just get to have a blast playing these amazing players.”

Smith had the same mindset.

“I have nothing to lose, right?” she said. “Just go out there, hit my shots, play the game, and just hope for the best, I guess.”

THE SCORES

SCCAL Championships
Singles: Tiana Smith (Aptos) def. Francesca Garces (Santa Cruz), 6-4, 6-3
Doubles: Holly Hegna and Coral Collins (Aptos) def. Sofia Niklaus and Erin Szymanski (Scotts Valley), 6-4, 7-5