Senior tennis player Diana Gong finished off her fourth year on varsity winning the Peninsula Athletic League singles championship. Gong defeated Menlo-Atherton junior Sophia Longo in the championship game at Burlingame.
Gong defeated Longo in two sets with scores of 6-2 and 6-3, bringing her flawless postseason record to 6-0. She attributes the victory over Longo to her own aggressive playing.
“I just play a lot more aggressively than she does,” Gong said. “I moved into the court a lot to take away her time and hit a lot of angles that made her run.”
The Bears’ No. 1 and 2 singles players, seniors Lanie Van Linge and Julia Marks, played doubles together in the PAL championships, leaving Gong matched up against Longo, who is M.A.’s No. 3 singles player.
“[Van Linge] played doubles, so that took the hardest opponent out of the singles running,” she said.
Last year, Gong advanced to the PAL quarterfinals and lost to Longo in two sets, with scores of 6-4 and 7-5. Gong found that this year, her calmer and more positive attitude has played a significant role in her success.
“In the past, I would get angry at myself during my match and my quality of playing would go down,” she said. “This year, I stayed more positive with myself, so that helped my game get better.”
