Swinging into league, girls tennis look towards upcoming matches
by Anna Minasyan
photo by Dustin Vu
Concluding preseason successfully, the Spartan netters look to continue their momentum against the Montebello Oilers at a home match, Oct. 2.
The varsity netters wrapped up preseason with a 5-3 record and the JV netters closed with a 4-4 record. In their second league match, the Spartans fell short against the Mark Keppel Aztecs, 14-4.
In their preseason matches, the Spartans reached three ties, winning one and falling short for two. At an away match, Sept. 13, against the Cal High Condors, the varsity netters broke a 9-9 tie, 75-73.
“I think we’re winning a lot more than we have in previous years. The people that we play with are also around the same grade as us so we’re basically playing the same people. We’ve had many different coaches while they have had the same coaches, but I think we’re doing a lot better this year,” said varsity junior Anna Lin.
The Spartan netters took two wins in a row: 10-8 against the Whittier Cardinals, Sept. 11, and 9-9 (70-68) against the El Rancho Dons, Sept. 7. Junior varsity lost 14-4 against the Cardinals; however, they defeated the Dons, 11-7.
“I think our team is strong because we don’t know how good we really are. Last year, when we were at the bottom, we had nowhere to go but up,” said varsity coach Michael Rubio. “[Our] weakness is that last year,[we] were used to losing and once that mentality goes away, then we’ll be okay.”
Both varsity and JV netters took victories against the El Monte Lions, Aug. 28. Varsity won, 10-8, against the Lions, while JV won, 11-7. In a home match on Aug. 23, the varsity and JV netters beat the West Covina Bulldogs, 16-2 and 9-9 (71-64), respectively.