Girls tennis makes short work of Paint Branch

After a series of swift matches, the girls tennis team emerged triumphant, defeating division 3 rivals Paint Branch 5-2.

Paving the way in singles were co-captain Julia Kay and senior Vivian Wang, each of whom creamed their opponents 6-1 6-3, and 6-0 6-1. In addition to serving up power balls, Kay moved confidently up to the net, blocking volley after volley. On court 3, Wang's consistent ground strokes gave her a solid competitive edge over her opponent.

Kay believes that playing against a division 3 team gives her fellow Blazer teammates the opportunity to sharpen their skills. "Winning a non-divisional game gives us confidence in playing against [division 1 teams]," she said. "Non-divisionals are good for working on mental toughness, brushing up on shots and consistency."

In doubles, all 3 of the dynamic duos decisively defeated their opponents. On doubles court 1, sophomore Tiffany Lin and partner Nisha Aggarwal executed stellar forehand/backhand volley combinations to rack up valuable points and to later win the match, 6-0, 6-0. Not far in Lin and Aggarwal's victorious wake were doubles pairs senior Stephanie Hernandez, subbing in for Alia Halabi, and freshman Seema Kacker, who was substituting for the second straight day for an ill Kamisha Samuda, on court 2 and junior Christina Feng and sophomore Katherine Epstein on court 3. Hernandez and Kacker's good coordination led the pair to a 6-2, 6-0 victory while Epstein and Feng continuously fired power-packed serves to win the match 6-1, 6-0.

Co-captain senior Jennifer Alyono and number 2 singles player Lisa Kim put in a great deal of effort and provided stiff competition at times, but neither could firmly establish their handles on the matches. After putting in hearty efforts, Alyono fell to her opponent 6-2, 6-3 while Kim was defeated 6-1, 6-1.

Coach Ngbea was nevertheless satisfied with his girls' games but believes that the mistakes that were made were avoidable, especially against a lower division team. "We're hitting balls out," he said. "Paint Branch is in division 3 so we should be able to beat them easily."