Girl's tennis defeats Paint Branch

The girl's tennis team brought itself back up to a .500 record this season (4-4), after a disappointing loss in an important divisional game which will cause the team to drop from Division I to II.

Paint Branch High School felt the wrath of Blazer rackets today, as Blair triumphed 5-2. The singles team had a bit of a rough day, with first single Stephanie Paul losing 0-6, 0-6 and second single Valerie Shen also dropping her game 0-6, 06. Third single Aditi Bhaskar pulled off a 6-4, 7-5 victory, and fourth single player Pearl Horng won 7-6 (tiebreaker), 6-2.

The doubles teams played more consistently, with three wins. First doubles Seema Kacker and Katherine Epstein prevailed 6-2, 6-3, second doubles Emily Tsui and Janice No soundly defeated their opponents 6-0, 6-3, and third doubles Dominique Franson and Jahnavi Bhaskar managed a 7-5, 7-5 triumph.

However, the team's heartening success today was overshadowed by the disappointing news that they will be dropping to Division II next season. "We haven't dropped in I don't know how many years," said Coach Ngbea. "It was our own doing. Except for Churchill, the games we lost, we beat ourselves."

"The bottom line is that many of our girls are not tournament tough. We're playing tournament girls, girls used to competitions. A lot of our girls just don't have that experience," Ngbea concluded.

However, even though they will not remain in Division I, the win today boosted team spirits and hopes to finish their season with a winning record and possibly advance to playoffs. "We still have chances," said Ngbea, "but if we lose, we go home. This season is a learning experience, and we'll have a much different team next season."