Sam Bernstein staff writer
The girls varsity tennis team opened league play on Oct. 5 with a loss to the Santa Monica Vikings. The Normans tied the Vikings 9-9 in overall games; however, lost the number of matches 84-78.
One of the bright spots for the Normans was sophomore Hannah Kimura, who went 3-0 in her matches. She finished her day with a 7-6 win playing singles one. Kimura discussed how she approaches a rival opponent differently than she would for a non-conference foe.
“Effort-wise we’re trying really hard and we’re doing better than last year, but we just need to get a little more skill and we’ll definitely beat them,” Kimura said. “I try to keep [the ball] more in play rather than going for every single shot. You just have to realize that every point matters, so you have to give it your all on every shot.”
Kimura felt proud after beating a rival like Santa Monica.
“It’s great. Considering the fact that they’re our rival makes us care more about this win. It counts, so we’re getting one step closer to CIFs,” Kimura said.
Chantel Yeshova and Claire German form one of the doubles teams. The pair of juniors went 1-2 that afternoon.
“One big improvement I need to make is to bend my knees more to be able to get the ball over the net, to be more aggressive and to try as hard as I can,” Yeshova said.
Yeshova, who is playing her first year on varsity after two seasons on JV, commented on Kimura’s strategies for preparing for important matches.
“There’s a lot of encouragement with my partner. There’s a lot of making sure you don’t give up just because you know they’re good,” Yeshova said. “We’ve just got to work on everything before we do it; serves, volleys, down-the-line and cross-court; just making sure you have all the fundamentals so you can use them.”
The Normans travel to Culver City on Oct. 10 to play the Centaurs in their second league game.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-9vu4Qy6dc&w=560&h=315]