On Oct. 23, the Aragon girls varsity tennis team (17-4 overall) swept San Mateo (3-11 overall) with a score of 7-0, a strong performance in their final match of the season before they moved onto Central Coast Section.
“They’ve been working hard at practice and just putting in to play,” said head coach David Owdom. “They were very impressive … I wish I could go out and say I needed to coach them more, but they looked really good.”
For many players, however, the game was more than just their final win of the year; Thursday’s match was also senior night.
“[This game] was more special,” said senior and co-captain Taylor Lee. “It was also kind of sad because you’ve been with the same team for your entire high school career and you know it’s coming to an end, but at the same time I think it gave us a lot of extra strength and energy [on Thursday].”
Freshman Mia Lo kicked the match off by dominating No. 1 singles, winning both sets 6-0.
“I was trying to go in and attack, like move her [around the court] a lot,” Lo said. “But that was my whole goal, to keep it short and simple.”
Sophomores Ella Teng and Hayley Chong kept the ball rolling in No. 2 and No. 3 singles matches, respectively, with both players winning their first set 6-1 and their second 6-0.
In the No. 4 singles match, sophomore Allison Newman continued the Dons’ success, winning both sets without losing a single game as Aragon claimed the final singles match.
Juniors Shanay Biouk and Jessalyn Williams won the first set of No. 1 doubles 6-1 and followed it with another strong performance in a 6-0 win.
“I felt good,” Williams said. “I got to play with a new partner. It was fun [and] exciting.”
In No. 2 doubles, Lee and junior Madelyn Fong started strong, winning their first set 6-0.
“It was really special because it was senior night, and I got to play with my partner Taylor who’s a senior,” Fong said. “We had a lot of fun on court.”
The pair kept playing well, winning their second set 6-1, with great teamwork being an important factor.
“Particularly, our last game we played stood out to me a lot because my partner … did such a good job setting me up for volleys at the net,” Lee said. “We worked [together] super … well for that one.”
In the No. 3 doubles match, senior Meilin Rife and sophomore Catie Wu finished off the sweep of San Mateo, winning the first set 6-0 and securing the victory in the second set, defeating their Bearcat opponents 6-2.
The win finished off a fantastic season for the Dons.
“This has been one of our strongest seasons so far because we’ve gotten a lot of really good incoming freshmen [and] the people who were here before have practiced a lot over summer and improved … overall,” Lee said.
Although the seniors were sad to be playing in their final game, they followed the match with fun and celebrations.
“Sometimes they don’t realize how fast time goes,” Owdom said. “A couple of seniors … made posters for each other … It was a great day for them, they all had fun. We carried it over [to] Friday too. We had a two day party.”
While the team enjoyed the win Thursday evening, they also looked ahead to potentially making a CCS playoff run, starting with a match against Burlingame.
“I’m … looking forward to our opponents because these are new opponents that we haven’t faced before, so that’ll be exciting,” Lee said.
Additionally, Owdom recognized how the players’ excellence extends beyond the court.
“They work hard and they’re exemplary representatives of our school,” Owdom said. “I’m just fortunate to have them on my team. I’m very happy to be their coach.”
The team defeated Burlingame 7-0 in their first playoff matchup on Oct. 29. In the first round of CCS on Nov. 10, they beat Stevenson High School 5-2 and continued to the second round on Nov. 11 against St. Ignatius.
