Photo of Chu, Duran, Liu, Sarksyan, and Khalil courtesy of Amanda Lin

Girls Tennis:

Thanks to Maranatha Tennis for this report:

In a rescheduled match (due to the recent heatwave), the Lady Minutemen and Matadors met in an annual non-league match that has been very even in recent years.

MHS won 11-7 last year in a match decided by the final two sets.

In ’22, SGHS won by the same score; and in ’21, the final score was 9-9, with Maranatha squeaking by on games, 69-66.

Customarily, the Matadors boast strong doubles teams that even out Maranatha’s typical strength in singles.

With an extra-large varsity team this season, and with a week of canceled practices and matches early in the season, San Gabriel is still figuring out their lineups and best doubles pairings.

That opened the door for the Lady Minutemen’s doubles teams, who, though playing their 3rd different doubles lineup in 3 matches, were able to capitalize, going 8-1 in doubles, leading the way for Maranatha.

Of particular note was the improved play of freshmen, Morgan Duran/Peony Liu, who got the first wins of their high school careers, with 7-5, 6-4 wins, before losing 6-1 in their final set.

They still need to learn to close their sets well, as they actually had 4-1, 5-1 leads in both of their winning sets; but that will come with experience and growth.

#1 Mia Huang/Madison White and #2 (Diana Sarksyan/Jennifer Chu) both swept, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 respectively, anchoring the doubles lineup by playing strong and determined tennis.

Competitive singles matches were a big factor for the match nearly lasting 4 hours; particularly #2 Mia Su’s sets, in which she came from behind in each set to narrowly win.

Her first set lasted well over an hour, before she prevailed, 6-4.

In the 2nd round’s longest set, she again pulled out a 6-4 win.

Fatigued, she trailed her final set (again the longest set in the round), 5-1, before mounting a comeback and evening the score at 5-5.

The set eventually went to a tiebreaker, with Su playing steady and relentless tennis, wearing down her opponent, and coming away with a 7-2 tie-breaker win.

#1 Grace Yang improved her singles record to 9-0 on the season, sweeping her opponents in competitive sets, 6-3, 6-4, 6-0.

#3 Kathryn Khalil had an off-day, by her standards, losing 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, but still fought hard and gained valuable experience that will serve her well in the future.

Due to the rescheduling of today’s match, the 3-0 Lady Minutemen will have to play back-to-back matches, traveling to a very strong Rowland team on Thursday that was 2 divisions higher (D3) than MHS last season.

Though heavy underdogs, it promises to be a real learning experience for Maranatha, who have yet to face a team with the strength, depth, and power of the Raiders.