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By Cherry Manoonsilpa
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Sep. 24, 2008 |
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“Set, match, win,” The girl’s tennis team chants, as they continue victory after victory.
Sept. 12 and Sept. 13, twelve teammates played in the Peach Tree round-robin tournament in Fresno along with ninety-six other Bay Area teams.
During the tournament, the team faced many obstacles and complications. On Friday, the intense 97 degree heat caused many players to suffer heat stroke. Sophomore Chloe Roddy was sent to the hospital, returning to the team a few hours later after she recovered. Junior Maria Klionsky came close to having to forfeit her match because of the heat, but was deemed healthy enough to play.
“The heat was really intense at the tournament, and when you’re doing something so competitive, it’s hard to keep pushing yourself,” junior Maria Klionsky said. “But we have a really strong team this year and Fresno was a good bonding experience.”
In addition to the challenging weather, the girls were put into Division I, the most competitive of the four divisions. The girls played their first game of the tournament against Sage Francis and were defeated 7-1. The division was then split into two sections of Division I, the winners of the first match going into the top half and Lowell into the lower half. From then on, with four girls playing singles and eight playing doubles, the tennis team overall participated in thirty games. The Lowell team was victorious and declared champions of the Peach Tree tournament along with the winners of the other section of Division I.
The tournament has in past years shown to be a good bonding experience for the girls.
Along with defeating the tough competition in Fresno, the team is doing exceptionally well in their pre-season matches. “Their performance is excellent—we’ve already had about six wins so far,” coach Jimmy Rosenheim said. “We’ve actually only had a total of about two practices, there have just been so many matches.”
Despite the graduation of multiple strong players, such as last year’s senior captains, Aja Estares and Minnie Wong, the girls’ tennis team believes they have the skill to excel in upcoming games.
“We lost Aja and Minnie, who were really good players, but we’re working just as hard this year, despite having started practice a bit later in than usual,” junior Brandee Ma said.
This year’s captains, senior Kira Ostopenko and junior Sally Ness, seem to be fitting in well as they are ranked just as high as Estares and Wong were. The two even ordered the team new uniforms, as the supply had become low.
The team is also seeing impressive talent from new junior players, Jaewyn Roberts, who has been playing for two and a half years, and Dominique Dillard, who was chosen as one of the twelve players to play in the Peach Tree tournament in Fresno.
Returning for her second year on the team is last year’s prodigy, sophomore Karen Etin. As a freshman, Etin was ranked number one on the team roster and repeatedly dominated the team’s single’s matches.
The Cardinal’s next game is today at 3:30, here at Lowell against Westmoor High School. |
