Girls' tennis annihilates Magruder

BLAZER TENNIS COURTS, Oct. 3 –

After an exhausting season, the girls' tennis team pulled an amazing win against the Col. Zodak Magruder Colonels by a score of 6-1. Boosting their season record to 5-6, the tennis team felt spirited for their next divisional game against Blake.

"Magruder is a divisional team, and I was shocked, stupefied," head coach David Ngbae said. "I thought that if we won, it would be a close and tough victory, but we won rather convincingly. Today, the girls played like advanced players and did a good job."

Playing aggressively despite an ankle injury, first singles senior captain Sneha Kannan fell to opponent Sophie Garev at 2-6, 2-6. Kannan maintained strong consistency, but failed to win because her injury that prevented her from moving quickly and easily. "I started out strong. At the end of the first set my leg was gone," she said. "But I was happy by the way we played."

Second singles sophomore Shilpa Kannan swept Magruder's Alana Shustev with her delivery of near-perfect serves and solid backhands by a score of 6-3, 6-3. "I played okay. In this game I was more confident and relaxed, and I definitely do better when I'm relaxed," Shilpa said. "Although it was annoyingly windy, it was a pretty good match and my serves were better this time."

Adding to a hereafter winning line of successes, third singles player junior Deepa Chellappa whipped her opponent Deepika Sharma 6-3, 6-2 with sound ground strokes. At fourth singles, junior Sarah Tran maintaining good consistency and executed powerful forehands, defeating her opponent Katherina Ponomarenko by scores of 6-2, 6-1. "From my last game against Wootton, my serves got a bit better and my forehand improved," she said. "I got to also move around the court and I had good footwork."

Through effective teamwork, proper execution of groundstrokes and good movement, first doubles players sophomores Hannah Ho and Ava Wallace triumphed over Magruder's Diane Revilleza and Manisha Taneja. "We didn't beat ourselves in this game and there was a lot of improvement," Wallace said. "We were a good team and communicated well," Ho added.

Second doubles players sophomore Ann Choi and freshman Anna Lu demonstrated fierce volleys and powerful serves, which allowed them to secure a 6-0, 6-2 win. "Today was just a good day and we worked well together. We were really prepared," Choi said.

Managing a 5-7, 6-1, 8-6 win, third doubles players sophomore Anya Gosine and junior Tiffany Chang played diligently against Magruder's Melissa Bowan and Thais Rosa in the longest match of the game.

Ultimately, Nbea was pleased in how the girls had improved from their previous games and heeded to his instructions of "being aggressive and emphatic, brushing up the ball, having lots of movement and doing anything you can to reach and go for it [the ball]." Ngbea is excited and hopeful about the next divisional game against Blake. "Today we played really well and it was one the best matches of the season," he said. "If we play like this against Blake, I think we have high chances of winning."

The Blazer's next home game is Wednesday, Oct. 7 against Blake at 3:30 pm.