After reaching the first round of the Central Coast Section Conference (CCS) last season and winning the doubles tournament in the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL), Aragon’s girls tennis team looks to improve their 9-5 record with a younger team and a different mindset this season. The team is already making headway with a recent 5 – 2 win over San Mateo on Oct. 10.
From the start, Aragon dominated their Bay Division rivals and came away with wins from all four singles players.
In a game where both the team’s service game and groundstrokes were strong, senior Kaede Ishikawa, the number one singles player, reflects, “I was just happy that all the other singles players were winning and I was able to contribute to the Aragon team.”
While the singles team was able to sweep their way to victory, Aragon’s doubles teams faced some adversity and ended up winning only one of the three matches. The number one doubles team, sophomores Jessica Westmont and Magali de Sauvage, were the only pair to win. In a best-of-three matchup, the two played down to the last set and won 7-6. Westmont says, “Sometimes, when we win the first set, we get really cocky, so we lose the second match. And so in the third match, we just have to lower our cockiness and play on through.”
Once a San Mateo Bearcat before transferring to Aragon, third singles, senior Aislinn Oka, comments, “Before the game, I was a little intimidated just because I’ve played with [my opponent] before and she’s a good player. But after that match, I felt confident. If the match was closer like last time, I would have been a little bit more emotional.”
This year, the team features young doubles teams with only two of the six players having played varsity last year. Senior Melissa Ma says, “We are holding our own, but it’s tough because it’s kind of a rebuilding year.”
To address that, Coach Linda Brown dedicates time during practice to not only work on ground strokes, but also to teach the movement on the court. “There’s still a lot of stuff they have to learn when they have a doubles partner,”adds Brown. “It’s not just you against somebody else. [I] am trying to teach them, ‘this is the movement for when you are at the net, this is the movement for when you are at the back’ and when you’re having problems, what kind of adjustments you can make.”
The team will attempt to qualify for CCS by winning the entry tournament which includes the second, third and fourth place teams in the Bay, and the first place team in the Ocean. To do that, the team must keep motivated and continue their strong play.
Freshman Sagrika Jawadi says, “You have to be really strong. You can’t let losing get to you. You just have to be in the game and focused, because [other players] win, and you win, you just feel like a team.”
