Peachtree win brings high hopes for season

With one carefully executed forehand, junior Crystal Yen closed the final match that made the girls’ tennis team first in the state.

After two days of playing under the hot Fresno sun, the team beat Corona del Mar High School in the final round to take the Peachtree Classic championship for the first time in five years.

All three doubles teams went undefeated 4-0 through the Peachtree tournament, but not without a fight. The No. 1 doubles team, consisting of juniors Sarah Lum and Lisa Asai, and the No. 2 doubles team of sophomore Niharika Bedekar and senior co-captain Mary Edman both split sets against Corona del Mar but won in the match tiebreakers. Until this year, Corona had not lost a single doubles match at the tournament in five years.

In addition key matches were won by No. 1 singles player senior Srinidhi Raghavan, and returning players No. 2 senior co-captain Catherine Nguyen and No. 3 Yen.

The team beat St. Mary’s 5-2, Redwood 6-1, Archbishop Mitty 4-3 and Corona del Mar 5-2 in a tournament with a total of 112 teams.