Tennis wins opening match

College Prep vs. Logan high school
Record: 1-0
League Record: 0-0
 
Hands down— I have never felt prouder of my tennis team than I did yesterday.  The ladies thought having an injured singles player out for the season would significantly affect the team, but it clearly didn’t, and as a captain, I couldn’t be happier about it.  This was an accomplishment that clearly showed the league and CPS (woops, College Prep) that we’re ready to attack this season head on. With a new lineup, new players, new captains, new league, and new attitude, I predict this season will be unlike any other season in my experience as a CPS tennis player. So stay tuned, because we’ll definitely keep you updated…
 
Walking on the unfamiliar turf of Logan High School in Union City was unsettling for many of us, for it was the first game of the season for the team and the first match for many of our new players.  Logan High School is notorious amongst our team for making questionable calls and being inappropriate along the sidelines. I thought it would be unnecessary to tell the girls that I don’t remember ever beating Logan, so saving the news till after the win was extremely gratifying. Though Logan was a non-league match (they’re a large public school), they’re usually stronger than most of the teams we play in our own league—so this win was extremely encouraging and an awesome way to kick off the season. 
    

Some notable performances: The Karina and Manasi dynamic #1 doubles duo was so exciting to watch I forgot to do my homework altogether. They were down in the first set, came back up, and won, then split sets after losing a close 2nd set and prevailed in the 3rd after being down 1-4 and coming up and winning 6-4. I don’t know how many of you readers understand tennis lingo, but making that big of a comeback in a set is a very difficult thing to do. Karina’s decision to play more aggressive at the net and Manasi’s fierce serve and game face  made all the difference.  If I’m not mistaken, the match lasted over 2 hours, and the sun was already setting by the time they started the 3rd set. It was pretty dramatic-- full of annoyed opponents, climactic advantage points, and screaming teammates and fans. We even tried to do the wave a couple times in the stands. The coach was more than irritable.
 
On with the match...Maya, our new sophomore #4 singles player, cleanly swept out her opponent with the golden 0 and 0 donut. Mmm tasty, and Mirabella, our new freshman #3 singles player had an impressively quick win as well. Corinne, who played #1 singles, played aggressively and controlled the ball better than I’ve ever seen her; she would have won earlier had she not been burdened with the bad line calls and challenges coming from the other side of the net. Also, Annie aka The Wall, played with her usual consistency and patience. She too split sets and won the 3rd, winning her match, winning our 5th game out of the 9 we played, which ultimately meant winning the entire match. Our #2 doubles team, Chloe and Kanishka, ultimately succumbed to their opponents, though putting up a good and long fight against their opponents' smashing (ha-ha, pun) volley and overhead smashes. Our  #3 doubles team, Laura and Sarah played an impressively long match. This match was especially noteworthy to me because Laura, who had barely picked up a tennis racket when she first started the team last year, had displayed such astounding improvement. The match was entertaining in itself because the Logan opponents kept challenging our calls, eventually leading to external involvement, aka a line judge. Coach Wendell and the Logan coach apparently got into an argument-- polite argument, but an argument nonetheless. Anyways, she and Sarah made a beautiful duo and eventually also split sets as the sun was setting, though ultimately losing in a close 3rd set. This year's #4 and #5 doubles teams consisted of 4 of the 7 new players-- the #4 team consisting of freshman, Sormeh and Stephanie, and the #5 of Annie and Gabriela. Though both had tough first matches, both pairs walked off the courts with smiles on their face, all saying they had a really good time. If I'm not mistaken, all four of these girls have never really had much experience playing tennis prior to this season, so competing in the first couple weeks of school is an awesome opportunity for them-- especially since some of you will get to see them transform as athletes as they (hopefully) continue playing for the team throughout their CPS years.

So as you can see, having almost twice the usual number of girls on the tennis team has been an exciting change. It also means longer write-ups. You'll be hearing more from us along our journey, but for now, I give you the scores from yesterday's match:

Singles:
#1. C. Lusher vs. J. Ho (W): 6-2, 6-3
#2. A. Wang vs. T. Saphiphack (W): 6-0, 1-6, 6-3
#3. M. El Baze vs. C. Cheung (W): 6-2, 6-1
#4. M. Ramchandran vs. C. Reyes (W): 6-0, 6-0

Doubles:
#1. K. Hsieh & M. Iyer vs. R. Ybera & A. Villanueva (W): 7-5, 5-7, 6-4
#2. C. P-C & K. Patel vs. A. Thach & H. Truong (L) 3-,6, 0-6
#3. L. Barry & S. Sachs vs. R. Wu & K. Le (L) 6-4, 2-6, 2-6
#4. S. Yazdi & S. Ribet vs. M. Lomas & H. Reyes (L) 2-6, 1-6
#5 A. Wong & G. Gallegos vs. P. Rod & M, Bartolome (L) 0-6, 0-6

Stay tuned. We'll be continuing to play non-league matches up until the 25th, when we play our rivals HEAD ROYCE. Next week we play Alameda High and Bentley.  We'll keep you updated for upcoming home games because fans are what make games more entertaining to watch. They also help keep the players motivated and perform better as well. Until next time, hug a tennis player and give them high fives. They deserve it.  --Tiffany