Girls Tennis:

Thanks to Maranatha coach, Arthur Hsieh for this report, & photo of Esmee Eaton and Sofia Celis courtesy of Amanda Lin

Towards the end of last week, Maranatha head Coach Arthur Hsieh could sense his team wasn’t as focused or as sharp as they would need to be to take down Valley Christian for the second time in a week and build a commanding lead in the pursuit for another Olympic League championship.

Last weekend was Maranatha’s homecoming (“Hoco”) festivities which was enjoyed by all who went; but, as they say, you can’t have it all.

Some of the Lady Minutemen were off their games today, suffering from what Coach Hsieh calls the “Hoco Hangover.”

Conversely, it was quite evident that the Defenders knew what was at stake – likely the league title – and, top to bottom, they came out with passion, energy, and determination.

Overall, they wanted it more than the Lady Minutemen did.

That wasn’t true for Maranatha’s top two singles players, Natalie Arminak and Grace Yang, however, who matched Valley’s players’ focus and energy.

They played with such heart and tried to will their team to victory.

They almost succeeded, sweeping their opponents, 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, respectively.

Unfortunately, those six wins were all they were able to muster up in singles.

Whereas No. 3 singles, Kathryn Khalil, was able to win two sets last week, she was unable to pull out a set on Monday.

In their previous meeting, doubles was only able to garner two sets (by #1 Mia Huang/Mia Su).

Huang/Su duplicated that today and had the opportunity to sweep, as they were ahead 3-0 in their first set, before surrendering six straight games to lose, 3-6.

This reversed last week’s result against the same team, who were leading 4-0 before Huang/Su prevailed, 7-5.

Maranatha did get one more doubles win today, courtesy of No. 2 Esmee Eaton/Sofia Celis, who reversed last week’s score against VC’s #3 and won, 6-4, giving MHS its 9th set on the day.

But VC’s doubles dominance was too large to overcome, edging Maranatha, 75-73.

Maranatha and Valley Christian now share the league lead, as each team now has one loss.

Up next: The Lady Minutemen are the Defenders, who gave Maranatha all they could handle in their first meeting.

That match came down to the final set.

That match will be on Wednesday at Pasadena HIgh School.