Photo by Megan Tieu
JV Matadors take away shining armor from Arroyo Knights
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In their latest home match, the girls tennis junior varsity team beat the Arroyo Knights 12-6 on Sept. 10. This marks their second preseason game victory.
“I was very nervous before the game, because the people on the other team were tall,” freshman Sabrina Penate said. “We saw them practicing and they looked pretty good.”
Despite feeling anxious and intimidated, SG had a strong performance and won five out of the six games in the first round.
The Matadors continued to dominate as they racked up a perfect score of 6-0 in their next round. With a total score of 11-1 from the first two rounds, SG was able to guarantee their victory for the entire match.
With the last round left, Coach Kent Vo filled the courts with newer players to give them more experience during a real match.
In one particular game, the Knights made great use of their height advantage.
“One of the girls that we were going against was really tall, so she had a lot of strategy while playing,” Penate said. ”[My partner Sharon and I] had no idea what to do when she went up to the net and just hit the ball right down. We couldn’t even run for it.”
The end of the last round totaled the final score of the match to 12-6.
“It felt accomplishing [to win], because we did it as a team and practiced very hard for it,” freshman Joey Lin said.
Vo noted that the most notable aspect of the team is the bond they share.
“One of the things I see with them that I didn’t see when I was in high school is that they all talk to each other, ” Vo said. “They branch out of their little cliques to get to know everyone.”
Even though the team scored a major victory, the coach believes there is room for improvement.
“A lot of the girls’ stroke mechanics are a little lacking but that’s partially because they’ve only been playing for four weeks or so,” Vo said. “So a bit of practice where they’re focused and determined towards fixing the small mistakes, and they’d be a great team.”
With a successful match against Arroyo, SGHS is excited for their upcoming home game against Mark Keppel on Sept. 25.
