The Palo Alto girls’ varsity tennis team beat the upper division Los Gatos Wildcats, 5-2, in a Wednesday, Sept. 19, match, improving the Vikings’ overall record to a perfect 5-0.
While many varsity teams heavy with freshmen would feel intimidated by the immense of the Los Gatos squad, the confidence from the Vikings’ four-match-winning streak helped them stay focused on the task in front of them.
“Although we lost to them [Los Gatos]twice last year, we were pretty confident about our chances of beating them,” Paly sophomore Gracie Dulik said. “We’ve already beaten a couple teams in the upper division this year, so we didn’t think this match would be much different.”
With their line-up changed due to injuries, Paly’s task of playing Los Gato’s nationally ranked senior Cassie Bergeson (ranked #11 in Under-18 Northern California) fell to junior Vrinda Khanna. After Khanna struggled early in losing the first set, 0-6, she rallied but fell short in the end with a disappointing 0-6, 3-6 loss.
“Even though some of the teams we’ve played this year have been upper division, none have really posed a challenge to us,” Khanna said. “I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t do as well as I could have; there are definitely some things I need to work on before our next match.”
Even though Khanna’s loss put Paly down 1-0 early, head coach Andy Harader was proud of how his No. 1 singles player performed. Normally, freshman Janet Liu plays No. 1 singles, but tendonitis in her elbow prevented her from playing her normal position, and she was instead put in at the No. 1 doubles spot.
“Vrinda had a tough match today,” Harader said. “The girl she played is ranked very highly, but I thought Vrinda did a good job. She fought for every point.”
At No. 2 singles, Khanna’s freshman sister Mira Khanna gave the team their first win and evened up the score by handling her opponent, 6-1, 6-2.
“I played better in the first set but was a little inconsistent in the second,” Khanna said after the match. “I started out a little shaky, but I picked it up.”
Next off the courts were No. 1 doubles team Liu and junior Lindsay Yang. Since they were playing doubles together for the first time, it was a pleasant surprise that they played so cohesively and won fairly easily, 6-2, 6-3.
“We played pretty well,” Liu said. “My elbow was bothering me a little bit early on, but we both served well and our down-the-line passing shots were pretty good.”
With the Vikings ahead 2-1, Dulik stepped off the courts after a long two set match with Gatos’ Hiro Fukamata. During the match, Dulik’s aggressive play was in vain, and she lost in straight sets, 4-6, 2-6.
“She was a pretty good player,” Dulik said. “I tried coming up to the net but nothing really worked against her consistency.”
After Dulik’s loss, Paly came back with three quick victories.
Sophomore No. 3 singles player Sophie Biffar fought through a grueling three-set match against Sara Silverstein. After dropping the first set, 1-6, Biffar quickly turned things around and won the next two sets 6-2, 6-3.
“I started out kind of slow, I really wasn’t playing well in the beginning,” Biffar said. “Luckily, I pulled it together in the end and won the last two sets pretty easily.”
At No. 2 doubles, Viking sophomores Lauren Mah and Christina Keopnick won a tough three set match that clinched the overall Paly win, 5-2.
“My partner was playing well early but then broke a string, and I was struggling throughout the first set, ” Mah said. “We didn’t really gain any momentum until the second set, but then we started playing pretty well.”
Paly faced Mountain View yesterday at home in their third league match.