By Myra Chen
On Wednesday, Oct. 26, seven players from the Fountain Valley High School girls’ varsity tennis team played their final game of the season at Wave League Finals.
Senior Captain Rene Do and junior Sophie Vu played aggressively for their third-place title in doubles. Both players showed remarkable teamwork. Do’s precise volley placements and clever tactics complemented Vu’s consistent and driving forehand, winning them 6-3 and 6-1 in sets one and two against Los Alamitos in the quarter-finals. But, unfortunately, their journey ended in the semi-finals.
“I feel so physically tired because we just played for the past three days this week, so it was a tough fight. Mentally, I feel stronger. Before, [Vu] and I used to struggle with our mental game, but as the season progressed, we’ve definitely been a lot stronger and kept ourselves positive,” Do said.
Sophomore Anh Thu Truong and freshman Kendra Ly finished strong in second place in doubles. Truong’s quick movements and her positive mentality shined throughout the game. Ly’s energy persisted the entire game as well; she was not afraid to jump high to return the ball. Together, these two key players defeated Los Alamitos in both sets of the quarter-finals with a score of 6-4 and 6-3. Truong and Ly continued onto the semi-finals to play against their teammates, Do and Vu, losing 4-6, winning 6-2 and then winning the tiebreaker 10-5.
Tension was high in the final as Truong and Ly played against Edison. In their first set, they lost narrowly with a score of 5-7. Following their second set, Truong’s serves and Ly’s overhead smashes defeated Edison 7-5. In their tiebreaker round, points were won and lost in an instant as both teams scored back and forth. With only a few points away, Truong and Ly were ultimately unsuccessful at getting the win, ending with a score of 9-11.
“I honestly didn’t expect to make the finals, but I feel like if I made a couple more shots I could have made first, but I’m so happy that we made second,” Ly said.
Despite this level of success and Ly’s outburst of energy, Head Coach Harshul Patel can’t help but express his disappointment.
“We had many, many, many chances. Basically, we lost that match. We just did not play good, not in my opinion… we had close to 20 chances to win that set and we wouldn’t have gotten into this situation,” Patel said. “So yeah, it’s disappointing. To see us get to finals, but we don’t win. But I guess this is tennis. So you’ve got to be happy, whatever the outcome is.”
One notable player at Wave League Finals was freshman singles player Jaslyn Nguyen. In the quarter-finals, Nguyen played against Los Alamitos. Her energy and her fighting drive made her a hard opponent to play against. Always up to the challenge, Nguyen fought hard, winning set one 6-1 and set two 6-3.
In the semi-finals, her fighting drive was no match for the Marina singles player, who was seeded number one and a UC Davis commit. Nonetheless, Nguyen gave it her all. She went on to compete for the singles third place spot against junior teammate Gisele Rico. Though seeded below Rico, Nguyen came out on top, winning both her sets, 6-2 and 6-3.
“[Nguyen] performed really well because she played our line one singles, Gisele Rico, and won both sets which are really tough. She is just a freshman but she definitely pulled through getting third place for singles,” Do said.
CIF-bound, Patel wishes for change to occur.
“Doubles need to be at a different level if you’re going to do something damaging at CIF. We have a long road ahead and we’re going to go one match at a time. We cannot take any team for granted; every match is going to be an uphill battle for us,” Patel said. “We’re definitely going to make some changes in the lineup. I wasn’t happy with the way we performed today with doubles, so we’ll do that. Things need to be changed, so we’ll change it and stick with it and see how far we can go with it.”
Marking the end of the season for many of the Lady Barons, Do reviews their past successes and has a positive outlook for the future of the team and her junior teammates.
“I’m really grateful for my teammates for such a great season. We really turned it around from last year because this year we are champs. We’re going to CIF and I wouldn’t want to spend my senior season with another team,” Do said. “We are more than a team and our friendships are beyond tennis.”
