Three Girls’ Tennis Players Places in League Finals, Advances One to CIF

KEVIN KONG
Sports Editor

With the majority of the team being underclassmen who were bumped up from JV, varsity girls’ tennis seemed to have the odds against them. With determination, they finished league in third place with a record of 3-5.

The Moors have practiced on a tight regimen and played in the Almont League preliminaries and finals on Oct. 24 and Oct. 25, respectively. In a bracket-style tournament in which rounds were played by best-of-three sets, captain Tiffany Chan placed second in the singles division while sophomore Catherine Hsu and junior Monica Wu paired for fourth place in the doubles division.

“Overall, preliminaries were a good experience for this year. [Our goal] probably [is] to practice more. All of us can participate [more] and improve on our weaknesses,” Hsu said.

In addition to playing in the finals, the team advanced to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) playoffs. The team played their first CIF game on Nov. 5 against the Temecula Bears in the wild card round, but lost with a score of 2-16, leading to their elimination from the tournament. Though the team did not advance to the second round, Chan alone qualified and will play her first individual CIF round on Nov. 25.

“I’m absolutely amazed at the opportunity I have in being able to advance into the CIF Individuals tournament. I would have to admit to being extremely nervous, […] but I also know that no matter what happens, I will make the most of [the] experience,” Chan said.

With only one senior this year, the girls’ team is an unusually young one and, thus, will continue holding practice in order to gain more experience.

Emphasizing drills, volleys, serves, backhands, forehands and other fundamental skills, the Moors are training in order to be fully ready for the upcoming season in the next school year.