Barons monopolize matches against Blair tennis

BLAZER TENNIS COURTS - Oct. 8

As girls' tennis winds down their season game schedule, the team still strains to outmatch their competitors. The loss brought the season record down to 3-7. Coach David Ngbea attributed the loss to the team's mistakes; he believed the teams were evenly matched in terms of talent.

The Blazers were able to secure three match victories at third singles, fourth singles and second doubles. At third singles, senior captain Sarah Tran won decisively 6-1, 6-4 against B-CC junior Marie Fanjoy. Tran's focused hustling and smooth strokes locked the win.

At fourth singles, freshman Janvi Raichura triumphed 6-4, 7-5 against B-CC sophomore Carmen Hurtado. While Hurtado was ahead at the beginning of each set, Raichura quickly caught up towards the middle. By the end of each set, Raichura's endurance secured the win. The second set was notably closer than the first. "It was even right in the middle of the game, but I came back at the end," Raichura said. "It was difficult, because we were both evenly matched."

Second doubles featured junior Hannah Ho and junior Ava Wallace against Baron juniors Cameron Kelly and Lauren Hoover. Ho believed the pair was at their strongest intensity level. This secured the win against Kelly and Hoover's firm volleys 6-2, 7-6 (7-1). "They got better as they became more familiar with the game," Ho said. "This was our best game mentally."

Junior Ann Choi and sophomore Anna Lu faced Baron's senior captains Nada Ezzat and Anna Levitt. Ezzat and Levitt's experience and strong strokes enabled their win 6-2, 6-2. As more challenging opponents, Ezzat and Levitt were quick learners. "It was definitely more challenging," Choi said. While the two sets started out in the Blazers' favor, the Barons stepped up the intensity. "We started out strong, but they became strong as well later in the match," Lu said.

At first singles, junior Shilpa Kannan faced freshman Anna Rozenberg. Despite her age, Rosenberg had stronger and firmer strokes than many others on her team; Rozenberg won 6-0, 6-1. Kannan attributes her loss to Rozenber's consistency and her own mistakes. "I definitely made a lot of mistakes, like just hitting the ball," Kannan said. Although Kannan had to switch rackets midway through the match, the end of the second set was in Kannan's favor. "The end was probably the best. I had nothing to lose," Kannan said.

With two games left in the season, the girls' tennis teams losing record will stand in stark contrast to previous years. Ngbea was disconcerted with the team's performance. "I'm extremely disappointed," Ngbea said. "We are losing points because of the way we're playing. We've been beating ourselves."

The girls' tennis team plays its last home game on Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 3:30 p.m. against Kennedy.

Editor's note: Ava Wallace is a staff writer.