By Anneliese Duong & Natalie Tran
This afternoon, the Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) boys’ and girls’ varsity tennis teams were up against the Crean Lutheran Saints in a crushing home match that concluded with the Barons’ triumph over the Saints, securing their streak of dominance this season. The team pulled off a clean win with boys’ varsity earning a final score of 13-5 and girls’ varsity earning a final score of 16-2.
There were some pre-match jitters considering that this was the first time the Barons were playing Crean Lutheran. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was bustling with excitement as players went into the match fueled with sheer determination to win.
The boys’ doubles teams started off strong as they all secured a 6-0 win in their first set. Even then, they continued to easily win one after another. Doubles No. 1 senior co-captain Kai Rodriguez and senior Nathan Dang had an extraordinary streak of 6-0 until the end of today’s match. Doubles No. 2 junior Jared Nguyen and junior Ethan Votran also won 6-0 in their second set. With their dynamic chemistry, doubles No. 3 junior Ninh Nguyen and senior Albert Ly also claimed a 6-1 win in their second set.
Coming in for the last set, junior Dylan Phan and junior Clinton Pham subbed in for doubles No. 2 and won 6-3. The last doubles match ended with seniors Duclan Ngo and Michael Strother in a fierce tiebreaker. They pulled through and won 7-5, giving the boys’ another massive win on the doubles side.
However, the boys’ singles had a rocky day as they only managed to win four out of nine total sets. Singles No. 1 senior Giancarlo Figueroa won one out of two sets he played, No. 2 senior co-captain Benjamin Nguyen won two out of three sets, both 6-0 and No. 3 freshman Colin Nguyen won one out of two sets, 6-0 as well. Figueroa and Colin Nguyen were subbed out in the last set but the players could not overpower their opponent.
For today’s match, the boys’ greatest opponent was the Saints’ No. 1 singles.
“I heard they had one good player for singles,” Colin Nguyen said. “I was pretty worried about him but for the rest [of my opponents], I was feeling pretty good.”
Regardless, playing with their No. 1 singles was a thrill for the team’s singles players as the ball moved back and forth across the court in intense rallies.
Also at home today, the girls’ doubles teams notched easy wins over the Saints as they prevailed in all of their matches. Senior Kaylee Tran joined junior Emily Tran to top their opponents 6-1, 6-3 and 6-0 in the No. 1 doubles match. Doubles No. 2 players senior Paige Ngo and senior Christy Chau made a spectacular debut of their skills as they conquered their opponents, edging out scores of 6-4, 6-0 and 6-1 for their sets. Unfortunately, doubles No. 3 senior Skylar Ngo and sophomore Iris Chau did not have much luck today as they fell short in their last two sets with scores of 4-6 and 2-6. However, they managed to earn a 6-2 win in their first set. But despite their losses, the doubles team managed to secure a total win.
Defeating the Saints today was no easy feat as the team was confronted with windy weather—every tennis player’s worst enemy.
“I had low expectations for this match because it [was] really windy,” junior Nghi Trinh said. “[But] I think I played well today and I’m really proud of my serves because I would usually double fault if it’s windy.”
Moving onto singles, Trinh defeated her opponent in straight sets with scores of 6-0, 6-1 and 6-0 in the No. 1 match. No. 2 singles player, senior Tiffany Hoang, followed up Trinh’s success, obtaining sweeps of 6-0 and 6-0. Senior Jasmine Nguyen subbed in during the last set and won 6-0. The singles match ended with a bang as No. 3 singles freshman Sophie Vu upended her opponent 6-0, 6-0 and 6-2.
“I didn’t have any expectations [going into the match] because we’ve never played Crean Lutheran before so it was all new to us,” Jasmine Nguyen said. “I think I did very well [and] I aced [my opponent] several times and bageled her, which is 6-0. Overall, I think our entire team did very well.”
The next match for girls’ tennis will be against Corona Del Mar High School on March 30 at home while boys’ tennis will be away at Edison High School on March 25.
