Head Coach: Dave Gragnola
Last year’s record: 3-6
Recap: Last year, the top two players advanced to CCS with No. 1 player sophomore Millie Wang qualifying for the Northern California Gold Championship and then the State Championships, ultimately placing 40th out of 54 individual players.
Star Players: No. 1 player sophomore Millie Wang and No. 2 player junior Sarah Lim
Key losses to graduation: Ananya Seth
League: De Anza
Prognosis:
The Falcons lost to Palo Alto on Sept. 18 at Saratoga Country Club with a close score of 227-223. As of Sept. 20, they were 3-3.
Their wins included ones against Los Gatos at Coyote Creek Golf Course (225-233) on Sept. 14; against Monta Vista at the Saratoga Country Club on Sept 11 (234-261); and against Gunn at Baylands Golf Links (225-239) on Aug. 30.
The Falcons also lost at home against Los Altos on Sept. 5 (240-223) and against Lynbrook on Aug. 28 (215-213), a win Despite the losses so far, the team has aimed to maintain a positive attitude during their matches.
“I try to stay chill [during the matches] while not overthinking,” said the team’s No. 3 player, junior Eunice Ching. “I treat it as a fun little game and befriend my opponents to keep things less stressful.”
Even with the loss of Class of 2023 alumna Ananya Seth to graduation and one of their former star players, junior Melanie Lee, the team is still optimistic for a season similar to last years.
“It’s still a bit early to tell but I would expect about the same performance as last year,” Ching said. “We still have our strongest players, [sophomore] Millie Wang and Lim.”
Currently, the team has only filled nine out of the 12 spots on the team, including the addition of two new members, No. 7 player freshman Jaqueline Chico and No. 9 player sophomore Arista Suvarna. The starters on the team are No. 1 player Millie Wang, No. 2 player Sarah Lim, Ching, No. 4 player sophomore Stella Cho, No. 5 player junior Lydia Li and No. 6 player senior Tara Natarajan.
With two-hour practices from Mondays to Thursdays at the Saratoga Country Club, the team has been following the same routines, primarily focusing on specific parts of the game, such as putting and chipping, in order to prepare for their upcoming matches such as the on on Sept. 25 against Los Altos at Bay View Golf Course.
“Even though we lost to Los Altos last time, hopefully we’ll be able to reflect on our mistakes and do better in the next game,” Ching said.
