Throughout their season, the girls water polo team has been up against tough competition and has experienced trying hardships. The Lady Mats faced many opposing teams with a greater number of experienced players than their own. Wilcox High School, a team that the Matadors lost twice to this season, has not graduated any seniors since their 2007 season.

“It was really hard having a small team,” sophomore Sonika Singh said. “You basically had to play for the whole game.”

Despite all the pressure the girls were up against, they have earned their fair share of achievements this season, which according to Singh, included defeating a number of schools with elite teams, including Lincoln High School, Santa Teresa High School, and Mountain View High School during the previous season. And according to Karleskind, the girls learned to work together and compete as a fully functional team, a benefit enhanced by the team’s fairly small size.

“It made team bonding a lot easier,” team co-captain senior Molly Karleskind said. “It was much easier to organize the team and keep track of people.”