The Paly girls’ tennis team clinched a quarterfinal victory over the St. Francis Lancers, 4-3, early Friday afternoon.
St. Francis featured a high-powered singles lineup, led by junior No. 1 singles player Kelly Chui, but Paly’s doubles teams provided crucial victories.
Chui, ranked No. 13 in the United States Tennis Association Western region, spearheaded the Lancer charge as she defeated Paly’s sophomore No. 1 player Janet Liu, 6-1, 6-7, 13-11. Liu entered the match with an undefeated record and battled with Chui for close to three hours after falling behind early.
“Playing against Chui was nothing out of the ordinary,” Liu said. “I wasn’t nervous because of her ranking or anything, but I just felt like I needed to get the win for my team.”
This was one of three singles victories for the Lancers as Paly’s No. 3 singles player Sophie Biffar and No. 4 singles player Gracie Dulik fell by scores of 4-6, 2-6 and 4-6, 3-6 respectively. Juniors Biffar and Dulik, who normally play No. 1 doubles together, were divided after losing two consecutive matches to league rival Saratoga.
“If we had played doubles today, the St. Francis team we would have played would have been different,” Biffar said. “But I like playing singles. We made this lineup for Saratoga because we lost to them twice during the season, and now we’ll get the chance to see if it works.”
Biffar was first off the court in what appeared to be an imminent Paly team loss, and Dulik quickly followed. Biffar and Dulik seemed out of sync playing singles as their performances were plagued by unforced errors throughout.
“It was hard playing against her,” Dulik said. “She was a left handed with a really unconventional maverick playing style. I think that if I played her again, I’d do better.”
With losses from Dulik and Biffar, Paly found itself facing an uphill battle. Sophomore No. 2 singles player Mira Khanna quickly stemmed the bleeding and began a rapid Paly revitalization as she thumped her opponent 6-2, 6-4.
“The first set I was playing really well, but in the second set she started playing better,” Khanna said. “I liked her style of play though because she hit the ball hard. Normally I play pushers, so it was refreshing.”
The remaining three doubles teams followed Khanna’s lead as the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams registered 6-4, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-2 wins, respectively. The No. 2 doubles team of seniors Vrinda Khanna and Lisa Ke led the doubles charge even though it was only their second time playing together this season.
“I’m a lot more comfortable playing doubles, but it depends a lot on the partner,” Khanna said. “We haven’t played together since freshman year, so we still have some kinks to work out. Thankfully we made more winners than errors and pulled it out. Once we practice for a couple hours this weekend, I think we [Vrinda and Ke] will be better prepared to take on the more challenging teams.”
The junior No. 3 doubles team of Lauren Mah and Christine Koepnick followed the senior doubles duo. The No. 1 doubles victory didn’t come as easily to Paly as sophomores Margot Gerould and Emma Marti battled their Saint Francis counterparts well into the afternoon. After more than two hours of play, Gerould and Marti pulled through with a 6-0, 1-6, 6-2 victory.
Paly’s narrow victory over the Lancers will push it into the semifinals of the CCS tournament. The Vikings’ next match will be against Saratoga, an adversary that has thus far remained out of grasp for the Paly girls, having defeated the Vikings in both of their previous encounters this season.
“Last time we played Saratoga, night fell before we could finish and the match was postponed,” head coach Andy Harader said. “I think that this affected our play. Next time, we’ll be mentally prepared to play them no matter what extraneous factors come our way.”
In addition to being more mentally prepared, the girls have also decided to introduce a new game plan against Saratoga by altering the lineup to better fit their needs. This strategy comes with restrictions however and is carefully monitored by CCS officials.
According to official CCS rules, if a player is listed as a singles player at the beginning of the tournament, he or she cannot be moved down to a doubles position later on. Dulik however, will most likely be moved back down to No. 1 doubles on Monday since she was only registered as an alternate against Saint Francis. The No. 1 doubles spot will remain disrupted throughout the tournament though as partner Biffar will be forced to remain a singles player according to CCS/CIF rules.
“This was not the best lineup for our match against Saint Francis, but I think its better tailored for Saratoga,” Harader said. “Even though we’ve lost to them twice this season, the match is still very much in neutral territory.”
The girls’ semifinal match against Saratoga will be held at noon on Monday at the Courtside Club in Fremont.