Blazers rush past the Kennedy Cavaliers

The girls tennis squad whipped all of their John F. Kennedy high school Division II opponents today, ending with a stunning 7-0 victory and improving their overall record to 7-4.

In windy conditions and blaring sunshine, the squad finished the match in under two hours after a series of consistent matches.

Third doubles players senior Margot Pass and sophomore Priyanka Gokhale soundly defeated their opponents in a 6-0, 6-0 thrashing. Not a minute later, first doubles players, seniors Dominique Franson and Jahnavi Bhaskar also defeated their opponents 6-0, 6-0. First singles player senior Stephanie Paul followed a few minutes later after also winning 6-0, 6-0. Third singles player senior Janice No also finished quickly, joining her teammates soon after with a 6-1, 6-0 victory.

The remaining Blazers joined their teammates a mere twenty minutes later, underscoring the team's quick efficiency in today's match. The second doubles players, senior Kristi Chakrabarti and sophomore Bonnie Ding, emerged with a 6-1, 6-0 win. Seconds later, second singles player senior Pearl Horng left the court after handing her opponent a solid 6-1, 6-0 defeat.

Fourth singles player sophomore Jasleen Salwan concluded this season's final home match with a 6-3, 6-1 win.

Although today's match was against a lower division school, their consistent wins reflects the team's extensive progress this year, especially with the injuries of three key players that forced several players to move up positions. "I'm very impressed with the progress our team has made...The improvement this one year is more than the team's improvements of the three years I've been on the team," team captain Stephanie Paul said. Paul is especially happy about the improvement of the alternates this year. "Our alternates have improved tremendously and are twenty times better than before." She adds that the "team definitely got a lot of new shots in their repertoire, which really moves their game up to a new level."

Coach David Ngbea is also satisfied with the team's overall performance. "We have quite an impressive four losses and seven wins. If we win the next match we will end with quite a respectful record," he said.

The Kennedy victory marks this season's last home match for the team's seniors, who make up more than half of the team. "It's going to be tough next year, I just hope the turnout next year will be much better," he said. In particular, the first three singles player positions are held by seniors as well as the first doubles team. "It will be hard to replace all of the starters," he added.

The tennis squad will participate in the county and regional tournaments on Oct. 24 and Paul and Ngbea are eagerly awaiting. "I'm really excited for the county's. We have the potential to do great and to surprise the other schools and win a lot of matches," Paul said.

The last tennis match of the season will be away from home and will be held on Oct. 19 at 3:30 p.m. at Blake. The match was rescheduled from last week because of rain.