Doubles three player Kayla Korhonen (’17) hits her forehand as Jane Nguyen (’17) prepares herself for the next hit. Photo by Ivy Duong, Staff Photographer.by Anju Ito, Staff Writer
The FVHS Girls Varsity Tennis team fought against San Clemente on Tuesday, September 13. Although the girls all played their best in their unaccustomed lineups,
they were unable to grasp their victory against the number four tennis team in Orange County, suffering a loss 4-13.
This game was the first game that Coach Harshul Patel used the new lineup, where he split up some of the doubles players and mixed them up with the singles players. His decisions were based mostly upon last Friday’s game versus Irvine High School where the singles players were not able to win much points while the doubles players played strong.
“He wanted to strengthen singles and still not weaken the doubles lineup,” said Aozora Ito (‘18), a #2 doubles varsity player.
This change was most likely better for the team, although the team was not able to show their true strength on Tuesday due to their sudden change in their partners.
“The new lineup was very interesting to play. For me, since I’ve been playing doubles for about two years, I wasn’t really conditioned to play singles all of a sudden. As for the other doubles, I believe that they’re very capable but of course they need time to get used to each other and learn how their new partner plays. So I believe new lineup is very good, we just need more practice,” said Katie Ho (‘17).
Meanwhile, most of the players had a hard time winning their matches, except for singles two Katie Ho (‘17), who was able to win her first match 6-0, singles one Hanh Pham (‘18) who won her second and third matches 6-0 and 6-1, and doubles one players Vikki and Clarissa, who won their last match 6-2. However, the other players also hung on and played strong throughout the game.
“Everyone seemed a bit tense because we all know from past experience that San Clemente is a very good school. But I believe we gave it our all during the games,” said Ho (‘17).
In order to better prepare the team for the future, the players think that they can reduce the number of careless misses that they make.
“I personally want to improve on decreasing unforced errors and as Coach would say, ‘play smart,’” Ito (‘18) said.
Despite the fact that they didn’t win the game, the girls still tried their hardest against one of the strongest teams in the county. They continue to strive for their best in order to make this season a great one.
