Girls’ tennis: Team takes seventh at California High School Tennis Classic

The girls’ tennis team took seventh place of 124 teams at the California High School Tennis Classic on Sept. 8 after two days and four matches under the blistering Fresno sun.

The team was seeded ninth at the beginning of the tournament and defeated St. Francis 4-3 on Sept. 7 in the round of 16 to reach the quarterfinals, where they encountered top-seeded Dana Hills from Dana Point in Southern California and lost 6-1.

No. 4 singles player sophomore Arathi Sabada provided the lone win after splitting sets with her opponent and winning 13-11 in the match tiebreak.

After the quarterfinal loss, the team met Corona Del Mar from Newport Beach in a consolation round on Sept. 8. The team last played against Corona Del Mar in the final round of this tournament in 2010. Yet this time the girls lost 5-2 and were sent to play for seventh against Granite Bay.

The team narrowly won 4-3 after the No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Arathi Sabada and senior Cori Posadas and the No. 3 doubles team of seniors Kimberly Chou and Jennifer Jin split sets with their opponents but managed to win the match tiebreakers 10-4 and 10-5 respectively.

No. 3 singles player sophomore Smita Sabada and No. 4 singles player junior Usha Raman also contributed to the wins against Granite Bay.

With the preseason matches completed, league matches begin for the girls with an away match against Palo Alto on Sept. 11.