Overcoming early challenges like inconsistent player attendance and lineup changes, the girls tennis team won three games this past month – the first wins in the history of the Shalhevet tennis program.
On Sept. 20, the team beat Pacifica Christian 12-6 marking their first official win. On Sept. 25, they defeated De Toledo 10-8 and Pacifica Christian again 10-8 on Sept. 27.
“After the win against Pacifica, the energy just shifted,” said freshman player Noa Egorin. “I don’t think we would’ve won against de Toledo if it weren’t for the win against Pacifica.”
A tennis game has 18 sets per game, and a team has to win more than nine to take the match. Three pairs of doubles players and three singles players each play three sets. In order to win a set, a team must win at least six rounds and be two ahead of the other team. There are 12 players on the Shalhevet team.
Head Coach Ilya Chasov said the wins have boosted the team’s confidence, and the energy has spread among players and supporters.
The Firehawk players now aim to build on their early success, but because of their initial challenges, Athletic Director Tim Tucker was surprised by their historic victories.
“It’s a new sport that is gaining some traction, and we have a lot of student athletes committed to making this sport a real thing for us,” Mr. Tucker said. “It is fairly new, but the fact that we essentially got our first victory, it’s a great start to hopefully a long tenure of a new sport for us.”
Coach Ilya agreed with Mr. Tucker and said that the team learns a lot from every game.
“The more they win,” he said, “the easier it becomes in future matches for them to use their knowledge from previous wins so they can win more.”
Junior co-captain Dana Treitel said that the team became more determined during their first game against Pacifica after they realized victory was within reach.
“When everyone won their first individual set, they realized, ‘Oh, I just need to do what I did in the first one two more times, and we’ll be able to win the whole game,'” Dana said.
To celebrate their first win, team members enjoyed celebratory Slurpees.
“I think it really made us more connected, and it showed each other that once we put our minds to it, we can actually win and we could do it more in the future,” Dana said.
Anonymous • Oct 10, 2024 at 1:43 pm
Excellent story Benjamin!