Varsity Girls Tennis defeated Homestead High School 6-1 on Thursday, Oct. 26. Sophomore Zoe Laruelle played a singles match on senior night and was able to win 6-1 despite the 0-2 lead that her opponent had early on in the match and the problem that arose later on.
“It was 40-15 [and the] strings [on my racket] broke,” Laruelle said. “[Since] four of my strings were broken, I had to borrow somebody else’s. [The] racket was really different, so I struggled a little bit. I also started hitting more balls out, but somehow I managed to hit a few in and win the match.”
Although Laruelle had the racket issue, she felt confident her team would beat HHS because MVHS is 11-1 in games overall and had advanced to the CCS playoffs. In spite of the fact that the main focus for the team was to have some fun and enjoy senior night together, there was a lot of work put in by the underclassmen beforehand to make sure it was memorable. Senior and captain Himani Jha appreciates the hard work.
“I think all the decorations were really cool,” Jha said. “The posters they made for us are really sweet. They [even] found a way to rhyme our names even though it’s really hard … I’m glad we got our senior night with Homestead because [the first game of the season] was with them as well. Overall, just a great way to end the season.”
Jha not only appreciates the hard work put in by the team outside of the court, but also the progression the team has had on the court. She specifically notes an improvement from the past year to the present year.
“I [remember] when we played against Cupertino, we lost to them in NorCal last year [and] this [year] we were able to beat them [the two] times we played them,” Jha said. “So I was really proud of [my] team because obviously they’re a really good team.”
With last year’s team not having any seniors and still winning CCS, Jha’s expectations were exceeded. This boosted Jha’s pride in her team and says the team will be able to improve even after the seniors graduate.
“I’ve seen them go through a lot over the years,” Jha said. “Last year, even though we didn’t have any seniors, everyone played really well and we were still able to win CCS which [was] really unexpected, so I think they’ll do great without us. I’m obviously really sad for the league to be over, but we are going to be playing CCS. I’m looking forward to that and I’m really proud of the team overall.”
