Antonio Mangano
On Oct. 25, Aragon’s girls tennis team concluded their season with a 3-4 loss against Burlingame in the Peninsula Athletic League playoffs, failing to qualify for the Central Coast Section.
Aragon showed strength in their singles games, with their top seeds winning three out of the four matches. However, Aragon’s weakness was in their doubles games where doubles one and two fell short in their third set super tiebreaker, ultimately allowing Burlingame to eke out a 4-3 win.
“We played very well,” said head coach David Owdom. “It’s unfortunate, we had our chances and [Burlingame] pulled out a couple [wins]. We played well and so did they.”
The Dons’ search for victory began in the second singles match up where junior Anna He secured Aragon’s first point with a decisive win of 6-1, 6-1. Shortly after, junior Lian Wang won the singles three match 6-1, 6-2, claiming the second point for the Dons.
The most anticipated game of the day was the singles one match between senior Varsha Jawadi and Mila Mulready, ranked second and first in PAL respectively. In the first set, Mulready broke ahead to lead 5-4, but Jawadi managed to hold serve twice to tie the set at 6-6, ultimately winning 7-0 in the first set tiebreaker. In the second set, Jawadi lost 3-6 after her opponent managed to break her momentum. The top two seeds in the league battled down to a deciding ten-point super tiebreak, where Jawadi carried her momentum through, winning the match 7-6 (7-0), 3-6, 10-4 in a grueling two and a half-hour battle.
However, Aragon was unable to take home the win for their final singles game, with sophomore Taylor Lee losing both of her sets 0-6.
“My singles game was definitely a bit off,” Lee said. “I don’t think I got enough practice in and my opponent was very good.”
At doubles one, freshman Jessa Williams and junior Kat Russell won the first set, fell in the second set and ultimately lost narrowly in the super tiebreaker with scores of 6-3, 2-6, 7-10. At doubles two, sophomore Meilin Rife and junior Melody Liu were unable to pull out a win despite a hard-fought battle. After their opponents gained momentum in the second set, they were unable to break back in their super tiebreaker, once again missing the upset with the score of 6-3, 0-6, 7-10. When the two schools reached a tie at 3-3, doubles four pair junior Mana Ueno and freshman Maddie Fong were unable to clutch the deciding point, ultimately giving Burlingame the win.
After a solid season in the PAL championship, the Aragon’s girls tennis team brought it down to the wire while trying to qualify for an automatic bid into CCS playoffs, the preliminary championship for states for which only the top two teams from each league qualify.
Halfway through the season, the doubles players struggled with chemistry due to being switched around. However, their confidence with each other was on a rise since their first game together.
“I think [my doubles teammate and I] got closer compared to the first game,” Ueno said. “We spend a lot of time with each other and we practice every single day and week so we had a lot of time to build connections and friendships.”
The girls tennis team hasn’t just seen improvement in team chemistry but also in how they play.
Throughout the season, Aragon was able to pull their success from their aggressive doubles players. However, following a number of close losses against top teams like Burlingame, the doubles duos look to improve their reliability for the upcoming season.
“Next year I think our spots will be more secure and I think that [consistency] would help everybody improve in their respective roles,” Lee said.
It’s not just the players who maintain high hopes for next season, but their coach as well.
“We have a fairly young team,” Owdom said. “We have a lot of juniors, sophomores and a little bit of freshman flavor so our team is made up of young players. There is a lot of hope in the future of Aragon.”
On Monday Nov. 13, Jawadi, seeded fourth in CCS, successfully advanced to semifinals of CCS playoffs, dropping only one game in each of her matches. Semifinals played out on Nov. 15, after Outlook went to press.
