Girls' tennis falls to Churchill

BLAZER TENNIS COURTS, Sept. 19 –

This story was based on post-game interviews only and not on a first-hand account.

The girls' tennis team (2-3) lost to Churchill, a school that has been known to outplay Blair in previous seasons, in a home makeup game on Monday afternoon. Despite the loss, the girls played extremely well against one of the strongest teams in Division I.

The Blazers knew that their matchup against the Churchill Bulldogs was going to be tough, but they didn't go out without a fight. Freshman Leslie Chen fiercely rallied the ball and exchanged points with Churchill's second singles player, but was ultimately outmatched late in the game. "I think the [Churchill] girl was more skilled but we had long points,” Chen said. "My goal is to be more consistent even though I managed to move [my opponent] around.”

Although the Blazers lost all of their matches, captains Anna Lu and Olivia Nono were generally proud of how the team played. "I think we played really well,” Anna Lu said. "We're getting better at being aggressive.”

Head coach David Ngbea felt the team could have done much better if it had more practice to correct some careless mistakes. "It all depends on the ladies,” Ngbea said. "We need to control our errors because we keep on giving points away which can be corrected if we simply played more matches.”

However, Ngbea also felt that the loss demonstrated how much his team has grown since its last game, and how much it can still improve. "People were much more aggressive at the net,” Ngbea said. "We might not have immediate gratification, but we are improving.”

The Blazers will play their next home game against the Magruder Colonels on September 20.