With a decisive 15-3 victory against Notre Dame Oct. 10, the girls’ tennis team continued its five game winning streak. The team has earned a league record of 6-0 this season and a 9-2 overall record, placing them at the top of the Mission League heading into CIF Finals in late October. The team’s successful performance is notable considering its players have been sidelined with multiple injuries.
Captain Levi Craske-Curtin ’14 explained that captain Sophie Gunter ’14 pulled a shoulder muscle, Juliana Simon ’16 has a stress fracture in her spine that requires physical therapy and Arin Schwimmer ’15 has a shoulder injury that has kept her off the court but has not been diagnosed and remains a mystery.
Jenna Moustafa ’17 and Rebecca Li ’15 suffered toe and foot injuries and Isabella de Montesquiou ’16 and Joelle Choi ’16 have also been sidelined by more minor shoulder and back injuries during the season.
“I’m confident that next season will be much better, as we have very good players, but right now, we really need to just work on getting the players back to health,” Craske-Curtin said.
Despite these challenges, the team’s only two losses have been against strong competition from Santa Barbara and Peninsula. The Oct. 10 victory against Notre Dame was just another win in the teams expected sweep of the Mission League, which it has dominated for years.
The coaching staff’s switch of doubles partners in the Notre Dame match led to success, especially in the hard-won battle of Pan and de Montesquiou, whose sets stood out among the rest.
“We were up, then Notre Dame caught up and it became a back and forth,” Pan said. “Then it ended up evening out at 7-7 only for us to win in a tiebreaker 7-3.”
But this year’s injuries may come to create a more significant challenge. Individual CIF preliminaries begin Oct. 28, and the team plans to send singles players Moufasa and Craske-Curtin as well as doubles partners Gunter and Paige Moelis ’15 and Pan and de Montesquiou.
“We are focused on our team’s need for bonding and we have been working on that,” Pan said.
“Our goal is obviously to win CIF, but regardless I’m sure we will make it to the quarters again,” Moelis said.
