The girls’ tennis team lost 13-5 to Westlake High School in the first round of California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section (CIF-SS) Open Divison playoffs Nov. 3. After starting the season off 2-3, the team won nine matches in a row to finish 11-4 overall and 8-0 in league play.
Singles player Sunny Lu ’25 won the Mission League singles tournament, and doubles team Mimi Rhee ’25 and Tanya Anand ’24 finished second in the Mission League doubles tournament. Lu, Rhee and Anand will compete in the CIF Individual Playoffs starting Nov. 20.
Program Head Jelena Durisic said the team had a strong season, despite the loss in the first round of the playoffs.
“The season as a whole was a good one,” Durisic said. “We improved from the beginning towards the end. Obviously, in the CIF tournament, it’s a bit of a disappointment when you lose, but the girls grew. They got better, they learned and they’re going to be motivated going into next season.”
Lu said the team lacked intensity at the beginning of the match against Westlake, and as a result, their performance was negatively impacted.
“All of us lacked a little bit of energy in the first round, which brought down our score,” Lu said. “As we went into the next rounds, we realized that our energy brought us down. We had to hype ourselves up, and we did better than our first round. We realized that having more energy off the court is what brings our best game to the table.”
Anand said she looks forward to the Individual Playoffs with Rhee because they have developed chemistry playing together.
“I’m really excited for individuals because [Rhee] and I are a really strong team together,” Anand said. “We’ve been playing together for the last two years on the team, and we really learned each other’s game styles and are really in tune right now.”
Lu said she has to stay mentally sharp in order to have success in the CIF playoffs.
“I definitely need to put my winning Mission League aside, because I don’t want that to get to me,” Lu said. “There’s a lot more competition to come, so I need to focus on how to improve my strengths, as well as just stay in the zone and not try to get distracted by winning Mission League.”
Durisic said she is excited about the future of the program.
“The team is already talking about what they need to do in the offseason,” Durisic said. “The junior class going into senior year next year are really excited about being leaders. They’re already asking me, ‘What do you want from us?’ Overall, it was a good season, and I’m proud of the girls. Going into next year, we’re just going to continue to build.”
