On Oct. 23, the Lady Scots tennis team defeated Hillsdale High School in a crushing 6-1 defeat.
The sun beat down relentlessly as Carlmont began their matches for the day in the mid-afternoon.
Despite the hot weather conditions, Head Coach Margaret Goldsmith was confident in the players’ abilities to perform well, keying in on their solid performance thus far in the year.
“The overall season has just been really good; we’re in second place [in overall ranking],” said Goldsmith. “Last year, we were in third.”
Most matches, including both singles and doubles, finished after roughly an hour. Sophomore Annika Lin, however, won her match in a swift 45 minutes.
“Hillsdale isn’t as competitive as Aragon, Burlingame, or Menlo-Atherton, so this match was pretty short,” said Lin.
On the other hand, the final doubles match lasted for nearly two hours, long after the heat of the day had cooled down.
The match was a fierce several sets with Alyssa Nguyen, a junior, and sophomore Lily Gittoes versus another tag-team from Hillsdale.
Varsity team members from both Hillsdale and Carlmont, who had finished with their own matches, stood by the sidelines to cheer on the volleying players. Set after set piled high, and the match just kept on going.
Finally, Nguyen and Gittoes prevailed, and their win furthered the Scots’ 5-1 victory to 6-1.
The whole match against Hillsdale was an especially important one for the Scots because while the team only has one senior member this year, Sandra Strongin, they still held their annual senior night to honor her contribution to the club.
“The team is great. We all work really well together, and we all support each other,” said Strongin.
Against Hillsdale, Strongin herself played a doubles match with Kelly Doherty, a junior. They took their first set 6-0 and their second set 6-2, so Strongin was able to end her last high school home match with a win.
Having only lost one match out of seven, girls’ varsity tennis won a decisive victory in the overall match against Hillsdale. The match adds a win to the 10 wins and 3 losses on the team’s record thus far, making them 11-3.
The Scots’ next few matches in the upcoming week will determine whether or not they will be able to attend the Central Coast Section (CCS) competition. However, by defeating Hillsdale, they have already secured a spot in the upcoming Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) competition.
“We’ve stepped up our game,” said Goldsmith. “I think a lot of the players worked really hard over the season and came back with a higher skill set. That really shows in their matches.”
