By Noah Miyamae
Staff Writer
Photos by Brian Kojima
The girls’ varsity tennis team narrowly outplayed the Temple City Rams on the road by a score of 4-2 after tie breakers on Thursday, October 1. With this win, the team has evened out its Rio Hondo League record to 1-1 and and improved to an overall record of 7-1-1.
Sophomore team captain Molly Round was a major factor in this close match. She lost her first game by a score of 2-6. However, she did not get discouraged and came back with two strong performances. Round outplayed her opponent in her second attempt winning 6-2 and in her final game, the captain dominated over Temple City’s third string singles player.
Junior Jessica Chang and freshman Rachel Park combined as a doubles team once again to win twice by scores of 6-1 and 6-3. This duo’s dominance was present throughout preseason play and carried into this game as they accounted for two of the three total wins by doubles teams. Junior Ashley Huang also won two games by scores of 6-1 and 6-1. The powerful freshman Shannon Huang produced two more victories for her team and rounded out the strong performances by all singles players.
South Pas was on the verge of defeat going into the final set of games, losing by a score of 4-8. However, the team turned the tides to their favor by winning five of the final six games in what was a phenomenal performance by every athlete. With this new momentum, the team did not look back and won four of the six tie breaking games to claim victory.
The girls battled through not only a tough opponent, but also major shifts within their roster. Following their loss to La Cañada in their Rio Hondo League opener, two new players were promoted to varsity.
“I am really proud that the team was able to work together to earn this victory,” junior Nour Mallat said, “This was especially meaningful after the recent changes that we have endured.”
The team will clash with a very strong San Marino team at South Pasadena High School on Tuesday, September 6.
