Rockets blast Blazers away

BLAZER TENNIS COURTS, Sept. 11 -

After an overwhelming victory at the home opener on Monday, the girls' tennis team was taken by surprise, falling to Richard Montgomery 6-1. The Rockets defeated the Blazers with their incredible focus, strong volleys and consistency. Coach David Ngbea feels that the Blazers could have done better and found new areas requiring improvement.

Richard Montgomery, a Division II team, returned this year with strong and determined players. Both the Blazers and Rockets fought dedicatedly and persistently. However, the Blazers made many minor mistakes that summed up to heavy losses, according to Ngbea. "We were losing points unnecessarily," Ngbea said. "We need to avoid simple mistakes to do better."

Two of a kind

Photo: Freshman Anna Lu and sophomore Ann Choi pair up for a doubles match.

Freshman Anna Lu and sophomore Ann Choi pair up for a doubles match. Photo courtesy of Alex Joseph.

At the first singles, senior captain Sneha Kannan played against My-linh Nguyen of Richard Montgomery. Although both opponents returned low and fast shots throughout the game, Kannan and Nguyen each lost many points by hitting the ball into the net or out of bounds. The match was intense and Nguyen gained momentum at the end of every set. After a three-hour match, Nguyen finally outplayed Kannan by scores of 3-6, 6-4, and 6-2. Kannan attributed her loss to the lengthy and tiring game.

After a tough fight, the second singles player, sophomore Shilpa Kannan, left the court victoriously with the lone win on an otherwise disappointing night. Shilpa and her opponent Raissa Horimbere delivered powerful shots consistently. Reflective of the entire game, Shilpa was pleased by the hard-won match. "I feel good about the strong serves and pretty solid backhands," Shilpa said. "It was a nice game."

Third singles player Deepa Chellappa lost her match to Yvonne Shiau 3-6, 4-6. Sarah Tran, the fourth singles player, held a strong fight but ended with a loss by scores of 6-7, 6-4, 2-7. Tran attributed her loss to her inability to keep the ball always within the court – a problem many team members had, according to Ngbea.

Power serve

Photo: Junior Sarah Tran gets ready to serve the ball to her opponent.

Junior Sarah Tran gets ready to serve the ball to her opponent. Photo courtesy of Alex Joseph.

Unfortunately, all the doubles players suffered a loss. At first doubles, sophomores Ava Wallace and Hannah Ho lost 6-1, 6-3. Wallace felt that she and Ho could have definitely performed better in the game. "We have to focus and make sure we work on hitting it to the players," Wallace said. "It was just a really bad day." Later, second doubles players and sophomores Ann Choi and Anna Lu ended their game, falling 1-6, 3-6. Choi felt that she could have avoided the loss if she was more consistent and better able to return volleys. At third doubles, junior Tiffany Chang and sophomore Anya Gosine were also defeated 0-6, 6-7.

Ngbea was surprised by the performance of both the Blazers and the Rockets, but he wishes that the team would step up the pace. "This game was completely unexpected. I didn't expect that we would lose almost all the matches," Ngbea said. "We need to get to the front table and become more competitive. Most importantly, we need to keep our balls in play."

The Blazer's next home game is Wednesday, Sept. 17 against Whitman at 3:30 pm.