In its first match of the season, Paly’s girls’ tennis team crushed Gunn with a final score of 7-0 last on Thursday at Paly, which leaves the team’s record at 1-0.
According to Paly head coach Andy Harader, the game was stressful because of the intense rivalry between the schools. Still, Paly has done well against Gunn in the past.
“In the last couple of years we have dominated, particularly the girls,” Harader said.
Junior Janet Liu opened the match, emerging victorious against Allana Booth with a score of 6-0, 6-1.
“The match went smoothly, about what was expected,” Liu said. “I had a bit of a hiccup in one of the games but besides that it was good.”
At No. 2 singles was junior Emma Marti, who crushed her opponent 6-1, 6-0.
“I think I played pretty solid in my first match, and the team did very well overall,” Marti said.
Junior Mira Khanna played against Maci Haraguchi, and dominated to tune of a 6-0, 6-1 victory.
“It was a pretty quick match,” Khanna said. “At the beginning I kept missing easy points, but as the match went on I was more consistent. Also what was great was that I was able to practice coming up to the net and putting away volleys, which usually I don’t like doing.”
Senior Sophie Biffar played against Alice Li and won 6-3,6-2.
As well as an especially strong team, the Paly courts are also better than ever. The courts were renovated over the summer. According to junior Jacqueline Friduss, there were once huge cracks in the courts that could have caused injuries, which have now been repaired. Khanna agreed that the renovation was much needed.
“We don’t have to deal with cracks or weeds coming up in odd places,” Khanna said. “The wind screens are really nice and all of the gates close properly.”
Senior captain Gracie Dulik is also excited about the renovation.
“The new courts are awesome, they are a definite improvement over last year’s facilities,” Dulik said.
“The team hopes for another successful season after the team made it to the Central Coast Section semifinals last year.
“Our team this year is the best in the past decade,” Harader said. “We are a premier team in Northern and Central California. However, the competition this year is more fierce than ever.”
According to Harader, several important tournaments that the team is looking forward to are Fresno and Saratoga, and they are hoping to make it to CCS championships as well.”
The girls’ next match is a home game against Notre Dame high school at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 9.