Girls’ Tennis Faces Bakersfield Christian for First Match of the Season

By: Sydney Brammer

The Redwood girls’ tennis team competed against Division 1, Bakersfield Christian Thursday, March 11, 2021. It’s been about a year since the team has gotten to compete and the players are still slowly getting back into their normal swing. Redwood lost with an overall score of 2-7, however, with this tough loss, the team still gained a few wins from some of the players.

Redwood girls’ tennis coach, Matt Gong is in his fourth year of coaching, while this is his second year as the girls’ tennis head coach. He says, “We had a slow start in our singles matches, but played better as they went on. This was everyone’s first match in a year and half, so it wasn’t unexpected.”

Ranked number one, Elizabeth Gormley, ’21 won her singles match 4-6, 6-4, and a tiebreaker, 10-6. According to Gormley, she says, “my opponent came out strong and won the first set, but after a while she started to make more mistakes, which allowed me to play more consistently and win the second set and the tiebreaker.”

Unfortunately, her doubles match didn’t go the same way. Gormley and her doubles partner, Madelyn Adams, ’21 lost their match 5-8.

Gormley is “very happy to be back and [she’s] looking forward to the rest of the season.” She’s aiming for the team to win league and that she plays the best she can to win against some stronger opponents.

“Elizabeth Gormley showed why she is the number one on our team… She stayed strong mentally while the opponent started to lose her nerve.”

Redwood Girls’ Tennis Coach, Matt Gong

Ranked number two, Madelyn Adams, ’21 unfortunately lost her singles match 2-6, 6-7. She says, “I was extremely nervous and wasn’t swinging through the ball. The second set, I pulled myself together and started swinging fast and experienced better results.” Even though Adams lost her match, she is “taking some valuable lessons away from it.”

Adams says, “I am grateful to be playing, since I know that many other teams don’t get to have a season this year.” Her goal is to play confident and “to leave [her] best on the court- staying calm and swinging fast.”

Regarding the team coach, Matt Gong, Adams mentions that “Coach Matt invests a lot into us and wants to see us succeed individually and as a team.” Regarding the team, Adams says, “my team is such a great group of girls to play with and be friends with.”

Ranked number three, Sophia Degn, ’21 lost her singles match, as well with a score of 2-6, 3-6. Degn says, “I haven’t played much singles recently, but when I got onto the court it started to come back to me… I remember on the first set we just started playing, I looked over to the two courts next to me and we all had the same score. In the second set, I decided I needed to play differently so I just started lobbing it and kept the rally going.”

However, Degn and her doubles partner, Joselyn Arellano, ’23 won their match in a tiebreaker 8-8, 7-4.

Degn says, “It’s nice being back and feels good to play again, it’s a little weird since our sport is usually in the Fall and the team hasn’t seen each other in so long.” Like Gormley, Degn’s goal is for the team to win league.

Due to CIF regulations, there are no speculators allowed at the matches. Degn says, “Parents aren’t allowed to come so it felt weird not having as much support as usual.”

Ranked number four, Joselyn Arellano, ’23 also lost her singles match 3-6, 4-6. Arellano says she was prepared, but felt “nervous” in the beginning of her match, but as it went on she became more “comfortable and excited.” She says, “I was able to get some more experience and learn from my mistakes after not playing a match in over a year.”

“Sophie Degn and Jocelyn Arellano both fought hard in their doubles match together to win after losing their singles matches. They played top players from the other team to win in a close tiebreaker.”

Redwood Girls’ Tennis Coach, Matt Gong

Ranked number 14, Katherine Hornburg, ’22 and her doubles partner, Anastasia Cardona, ’22 lost their match 6-8. Hornburg states, “Bakersfield was just a little more prepared than us!”

Hornburg wasn’t expecting to play because she showed up late due to a test she had to take, and last minute was swapped with another player who filled her spot to play with her doubles partner. She says, “I was totally unprepared, I warmed up a little and then our opponents came on the court and I was kind of freaking out.”

Hornburg says, “it was very unexpected to be playing tennis during Winter, but it gave me a little bit of normalcy.” Hornburg aims to climb higher in the ranks and to develop her skills in order to “play smart on the court.”

After this tough comeback to tennis after about a year, Coach Gong says, “The biggest improvements that we can make immediately is working on our mental game and making mid-match adjustments. Both of these could have been the difference maker against Bakersfield Christian.”

Coach Gong believes the team is now more prepared to face their next opponent, Buchanan as who he believes will be a tougher opponent. His goal for the season- like Degn and Gormley, is to win league undefeated and continue their WYL record. The girls’ tennis team is now at 192 consecutive league wins.

The next match is March 16th at Buchanan and the next home match is March 19th against Clovis North, both start at 3:30 PM as of now.

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