Continuing their undefeated season, Carlmont’s varsity girls tennis team came out victorious against the Aragon Dons 4-3 on Oct. 12.
After beating the Dons earlier in the season, the Scots prepared all week for a strong return by their opponents. Last year, the Scots had a successful season.
“My team and I felt confident because our last match against Aragon went well, and being undefeated gave us some extra motivation,” said doubles seed Lucia Rodriguez.
The first game to finish was the No. 1 singles match between Don Varsha Jawadi and Scot Chloe Khachadourian. To combat a strong start by Khachadourian, Jawadi won in straight sets 6-1 and 6-0, giving the Dons an early lead in the matchup.
The next match to conclude was the No. 3 doubles match with sophomores Haeley Kwok and Bhavya Raman cruising past Mana Veno and Avorie Sabar, winning 6-2 and 6-1.
“We just had to stay focused and move our feet. We lost focus during the match quite a bit, but we told each other and ourselves to take the match point by point and stay focused on what we were trying to achieve,” Kwok said.
Following the doubles victory, the No. 3 and 4 singles matches wrapped up with two more wins by Ujala Chauhan and Katherine Zhang. Both winning their matches in straight sets, the victories gave the Scots a 3-1 overall lead.
Although the Scots started strong, Dons Jesse Williams and Kat Russel beat Urvi Kulkarni and Addison Mann in a close match, winning 6-1 in the first set, dropping the second, and taking the last set 10-5 in the tiebreak.
The Scots supported their teammate in her close that went to a third-set tiebreak. Down 3-2 to the Scots overall, the Dons struck back with a close match win by Anna He against Megan Bence. In over an hour and a half, He defeated Bence 7-5, losing the second set 6-4, and winning the final set 10-6.
“The most challenging part about this match and any match really is staying mentally strong. The most important thing is to keep up the good vibes and not be too hard on yourself,” Bence said.
With an overall match score tied 3-3, Delfina Bianchi and Ashwika Narayan defeated Meilin Rife and Melody Li 6-2 and 6-1, breaking the tie between the schools and leading to Carlmont’s overall victory 4-3.
The team’s win was important because it taught each individual player a unique lesson to play and prepare better for the next match.
“Our winning streak is definitely motivation for my next match and the rest of the season, I’m excited for what we’re going to achieve in the near future,” Bence said.
