On Thursday, Aug. 29, Archie Williams girls varsity tennis (0-1) hosted Novato High School at the Cañon Club tennis courts for their second matchup of the season. Aiming to bounce back after a 0-7 loss against Branson, the Falcons executed a sweep against the Hornets, winning all four of their singles matches and all three doubles matches.
Although last season’s results favored Archie Williams, neither team took the lead right away. The first matches began with single players, junior Amalya Rajparia, and senior captains Kathleen Schalit and Siena Michelson playing for Archie Williams.
Amalya, playing third-ranked singles, started the first set strong with two crosscourt points early in the game. She continued to beat her opponent, winning her sets 6-1 and 6-1. After her match, Amalya remarked on the team’s chemistry, sharing her excitement for the season.
“It’s only our second week of practice, and we have a lot of new players, so it’s really nice to feel like we’re getting to know everybody now and forming some new team bonds because we lost a lot of really special players last year,” Amalya said.
Recovering from the loss of last year’s seniors, the Falcons have been working to build stronger bonds within the team. This has allowed the older and more experienced players to establish team unity with the new members.
To Amalya’s left, in the second-ranked court, Siena started her match without the lead she’d looked to have. Despite the rocky start, she turned the game around, winning both sets and the match.
For Siena, the secret to her turnaround was staying focused and not letting her initial lack of success affect her mentality.
“Every time I go into a new set, no matter if I’m winning or losing, I’m always like, ‘It’s a new set, and I’m basically starting over the game because anything can happen in the second set,’” Siena said.
After Kathleen, Siena, and Amalya’s matches, the first-ranked doubles team, composed of junior Sarah Chamberlin and senior Samantha Devorin, stepped onto the court, winning their sets 6-1 and 6-0.
A few courts down, the fourth-ranked doubles team, sophomore Emma Akins and junior Gabriella Monardi, won both of their sets 6-2 and 6-0. At the same time, third-ranked sister duo, freshman Jessie Dong and junior Delphina Dong, sailed through their first set, winning 6-0. Although they struggled in the second set, losing 4-6, the duo held on to the victory through the final tiebreaking set, winning 10-6.
“[Our game] was definitely stressful. We had a tiebreaker, and the game felt really slow, but I think overall, it was a really good chance for my sister and I to play together, because we’d never done that before,” Delphina said.
Finally, the first-ranked singles match commenced, with senior Maya Evans representing the Falcons in the last match of the evening. During the competition, Maya won her sets 6-2 and 6-2, topping off the Falcons’ clean victory against the Hornets.
After the matchups, head coach Hayden Ongaro emphasized his satisfaction with the team’s performance. He hopes to keep up the team spirit throughout the season, explaining his goals for keeping the team on track, and consistently putting forward their best effort.
“I don’t know if [the team] comes in with expectations of winning or losing, it’s just going out there and playing your best…[As for the season,] there’s a lot of good teams, but I think we’ll go out and put our best foot forward,” Ongaro said.
The Falcons’ overall record moves to 1-1 as they hope to keep up their winning spirits into their next match against Marin Catholic. The Falcons play the Wildcats Thursday, Sept. 5 at 4 p.m. at the Bay Club.
