On Sept. 16, MVHS played Gunn High School in its third game of the season. The team dominated from start to finish, winning all matches in straight sets.
GHS was not able to progress past a set score of 6-4 in any of the seven matches, a strong indicator of the extent to which MVHS dominated. Senior Nicole Stomakhin and sophomore Laura Cao played the opposition’s top two singles players, senior Anjali Hetek and senior Deeksha Kumar, respectively. Both girls won their matches 6-0, 6-0, a major improvement for Stomakhin, who lost her match against Homestead High School on Sept. 11 in straight sets.
One of the two freshman on the varsity MVHS team, Rashmi Ghonasgi played senior Laurie Perng from GHS and won, 6-3, 6-2. However, she wasn’t fully satisfied with her game and felt she could have played much better. At the same time, she was proud of the way the girls played as a team and the way they handled themselves in tough situations.
“It wasn’t my best tennis, but it was good enough to win,” Ghonasgi said.
MVHS freshman Carol Lei, along with her doubles partner, sophomore Kelly Kim, played GHS sophomores Lena Ye and Lucy Fan and defeated
them 6-1, 6-3. Throughout the match, Lei and Kim kept calm, even in the second set when they were down 3-2. By encouraging each other and not losing hope, they were able to come back and emerge victorious.
Returning player sophomore Arushi Rai’s experience helped her breeze through her game smoothly and confidently.
“Today’s game was pretty easy,” Rai said. “The only problem was that sometimes we lost focus, but we managed to come back and win the match in the end.”
The team attributes its success to strength and consistency in both doubles and singles, as well as the players’ strong bond as a team, which allows them to constantly support and encourage each other. However, in the first three games, the team has had relatively easy opponents. Its next home game will be against Saratoga High School, who is the favorite to win CCS and NorCals this year. Nevertheless, the Matadors hope to continue their winning streak and remain strong as the season progresses.
The next home game is on Thursday, Sept. 25 against Saratoga High School.
