A year ago, Samantha Cheng became the first tennis player in Mt. Carmel High School’s 50-year history to win a San Diego Section singles tennis title.

Apparently, Cheng didn’t want the Sundevils to wait another half-century for a second title.

On a spectacular, sun-splashed Saturday afternoon at Balboa Tennis Club, Cheng, a senior, put a frustrating second set behind her and rallied for the 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 win over Canyon Hills’ Hannah Lov-Truong to win her second straight title.

Cheng and Lov-Truong are junior tournament doubles partners, and when Saturdays match came to a close, they held a long hug at the net. Asked what went through her mind when Lov-Truong’s final shot, a forehand push from inside the baseline, tumbled into the net, Cheng said: “Mainly relief.”

Understandably so. She was up 5-2 in the second set and it seemed a foregone conclusion she would be handed the winner’s plaque. Then she lost one game. Then another. Then five in a row and the whole set, wasting four match points along the way.

The players were given a 10-minute break before the third set. Asked what was rolling through her mind during the break, she said, “Probably the five stages of grief. I think depression, anger. I was definitely nervous (during Lov-Truong’s run), which caused me to tighten up.”

She also calmed herself, winning 13 of the final 16 points to take the set at love.

Lov-Truong, who was trying to become the school’s second player to win a singles title — Nikki Willette won in 1989 when the school was Serra High School — demonstrated resolve by running off five straight games.

“I was just kind of like, ‘I’m down really far. I might as well start swinging at the ball,’” said Lov-Truong.

The finals matched two smallish baseliners; Cheng is 5-foot-4, Lov-Truong an inch shorter. But there is a contrast to their styles. Cheng is a topspin, baseline wizard, a virtual wall, who keeps the ball coming back forever.

The left-handed Lov-Truong mixes slices and cuts and spins amidst power groundstrokes.

The difference in the third set?

“I told myself to be more consistent,” Cheng said.

“Honestly,” said Lov-Truong, who played a third-set tie-breaker Friday, “I just ran out of gas.”

Since the singles tournament was first held in 1974, Cheng became the seventh player to repeat. La Jolla Country Day’s Alexandra Stevenson (1996-98) is the only player to win three straight titles.

While the singles final was interesting, the day’s most compelling match started in the morning and ended 2 hours and 45 minutes later, when Del Norte’s Ayana Shah, a senior, and freshman Thea Sharma, the second seed, upset No. 1 seed Canyon Crest Academy seniors Chaeyule Kang and Lindsay Zhang 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (4) to win the doubles title.

Shah and Sharma played singles almost the entire season, not coming together as a doubles tandem until a couple weeks ago at the Coastal League tournament where they lost to Kang-Zhang in the finals.

It was Shah’s idea to play doubles.

“It was my last time playing high school tennis,” said Shah. “I enjoy doubles more than singles. Why not?”

Sharma didn’t play like a freshman. She was poised, particularly at the net where she put away the game’s final point on a backhand volley.

“Thea is an amazing volleyer,” said Del Norte coach Cherise Meoli. “She is so eager to get to the volley.”

“She handled the pressure,” said Shah. “She was solid and stayed calm.”