Girls’ tennis: Team is fired up to face rivals in CCS

Following two close losses to their toughest competitors, Archbishop Mitty on Oct. 21 and Monta Vista on Oct. 20, the Lady Falcons tennis players hoped to regain some ground before the upcoming CCS tournament, which will take place at the end of November.

“Losing 4-3 to the top two teams in CCS [despite] having our opportunities in both matches should hopefully get the girls fired up and ready [to start winning],” said head coach Tom Uyehara.

The team started to regain momentum by beating Los Gatos 6-1 on Oct. 22, a day after losing to Mitty.

“It’s always nice to get a win against the district rival,” said Uyehara. “Los Gatos is in a rebuilding process so it gives me the opportunity to play around with the lineup a bit and try out new doubles teams.”

In the match against Mitty, the team got off to a good start, with most players winning their game’s early match; however, Mitty pulled through in the No. 3 singles match and ultimately won the match, 4-3.

“We got off to a great start against [Archbishop Mitty] winning 6 out of the 7 first sets, but you have to give credit to them for not giving up,” said Uyehara.

Although it was a close loss, Uyehara was impressed with the players’ effort.

“Our doubles teams once again played well and I was happy with our singles play,” said Uyehara. “We just need to find a way to keep the pressure on through the duration of the match.”

The game against Monta Vista, on Oct. 20, was a disappointment, because after a close 4-3 loss during the previous match on Sept. 22, the team really wanted to beat them this time around. The team fell short, losing to Monta Vista 4-3 again.

“The team played well. We just didn’t pull through in some of the matches we were expecting to win,” said Uyehara. “The doubles teams are starting to play better especially at the lower spots which will help us get the edge in some of these tougher matches.”

Despite losing to Monta Vista and Mitty during the regular season, Uyehara hopes to play the two teams again in CCS.

“I am looking forward to playing Monta Vista and Archbishop Mitty again,” said Uyehara. “The first time we came up a little short, but I think we have all the weapons necessary to beat them. Monta Vista is our league rival and Archbishop Mitty beat us three times last year in the finals, so I am definitely looking forward to redemption.”

Uyehara said the key to CCS success is having everyone stay healthy and play well with each other.

“Every match down the line will be equally important in achieving our goals,” said Uyehara. “We have been off by a little bit in these big matches, but come CCS I know the girls will be fired up and ready to play, which will make us a very dangerous team to contend with.”