Girls Tennis Take Tough Losses Against Clovis West and Garces Bakersfield

By: Sydney Brammer

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021 at 3:00 PM, Varsity and JV girls tennis competed against Division 1 high school, Clovis West. The Varsity girls put up a tough competition on their opponent’s courts, but unfortunately came out with a loss with an overall score of 3-6.

Not many wins came from the Rangers that day, however, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel and a couple of the players are already on their way towards it.

Elizabeth Gormley, ’21 (#1- Varsity) lost her singles match with a score of 0-6, 3-6 ending her winning streak. Gormley went into the match prepared and planning to win, but came out with the opposite. Gormley says, “She [her opponent] hits very powerful shots that I could not return well and she was very consistent with her power and her placement throughout the match.”

Ending her losing streak, Gormley is disappointed, but not surprised given she lost to this same player 0-6, 0-6 last year. Although she lost, she is still “happy with [her] performance overall,” she says.

However, Gormley’s loss didn’t last very long as she won her singles match on Thursday, the 25th against Garces Bakersfield with a score of 6-1, 6-0.

The Varsity girls team traveled to Garces Bakersfield on Thursday, the 25th to challenge them on their courts at 3:30 PM and came out with unfortunately, another lost with an overall score of 1-8.

Although the team lost, Gormley came out with an extremely strong win. She says, “I think the difference between the two matches [Clovis West and Garces] was my opponent. I don’t really think that there was a huge difference in the way that I played.”

Gormley was back and paired with her usual doubles partner, Madelyn Adams, ’21 (#2- Varsity) for their matches against Clovis West and Garces Bakersfield, however they lost both. Against Clovis West, they came out with a score of 2-6, 5-7, and against Garces Bakersfield, 1-6, 1-6. Gormley says, “we faced really strong doubles teams this week and we did our best, but we weren’t able to win.” Her and Adams plan to work more together so they can improve for future matches as a pair overall.

On a lighter note, Sophia Degn, ’21 (#3- Varsity) won both- her singles and doubles match against Clovis West. Her singles match being 6-2, 6-3, and her doubles, 6-3, 6-3.

According to Degn, it was windy during her match making it more difficult to predict what direction the ball was going which forced her to have to adjust her normal playing strategies. However, the wind wasn’t enough to stop Degn’s precise playing.

“It was my first time winning both [singles and doubles] this season so I felt proud. I was very happy that I did win both and that I played a part in helping the team,” says Degn.

Degn was paired with a new doubles partner for her doubles match against Clovis West, Reese Ainley, ’22 (#5- Varsity) helping them get the win. Degn says she had to “adjust a little to know [her] partner’s strength and weakness to help cover [her].”

Unfortunately, Degn didn’t have the same outcome for her matches against Garces Bakersfield. She lost her singles match 0-6, 0-6, and her doubles also 0-6, 0-6. With this hard loss, Degn says, “I felt a little unmotivated… The girl I played always hit winners and had an amazing serve, too.”

Ainley took her first doubles win of the season with the help of Degn. Ainley says, “The win felt good considering they [Clovis West] are a Division 1 school and I hadn’t had much practice with my partner, Sophie and we came out really strong as a team.”

Ainley and Degn have never played an official match together, yet still came out with a strong win against a tough school. “Sophie is consistent and great back up. Any time I got the ball out wide enough for a weak shot from our opponent, I knew Sophie could finish it,” says Ainley.

However unfortunately, Ainley lost her singles match against Clovis West with a score of 0-6, 1-6. Ainley says, “I had to change my strategies up a few times and the wind was not helping my consistency.” If given a rematch, Ainley knows she can win with a better mental game and under different circumstances.

Ainley’s matches against Garces Bakersfield also went poorly. She lost her singles 0-6, 0-6, and her doubles also 0-6, 0-6 as she was paired again with Degn. “Going into the singles match, I wanted to try my best and fight for every point, but as the match went on, mentally and physically it was just difficult to stay in the game…,” says Ainley.

Ally Terrible, ’22 (#6- Varsity) won her singles match against Clovis West with a score of 6-3, 6-0. Terrible is usually a doubles player so she had to adjust to the singles lines and mentally prepare herself for the difference in the style of play.

Unfortunately, Terrible lost her singles match against Garces Bakersfield with a score of 3-6, 5-7. Terrible says, “she just had good shots… and I got into my own head.” She plans on improving her set up before her shot to get a better outcome.

The JV team also lost against Clovis West with an overall score of 2-6.

Ashlyn Guenter, ’24 (#7- JV) and her doubles partner, Nana Chong, ’22 (#8- JV) won their match with a score of 8-6. Guenter knew her opponents were going to be tough so going into the match, she wanted to “focus on one point at a time and letting the other team make the mistakes,” she says.

According to Guenter, during the match, her and Chong constantly encouraged each other and worked together to cover the court and be aggressive at the net which payed off and helped them win.

“I was really proud of us for being aggressive and coming back from a losing streak to end up winning our match against a Division 1 school,” says Guenter.

Lindamarie Herrera, ’24 (#10- JV) and her doubles partner, Shadi Parker, ’24 (# 9- JV) were the other win for JV winning their match 8-6. Herrera expected their opponents to have strong serves as she says, “all the Fresno and Clovis schools we played before had amazing serves.”

Herrera “focused on predicting where the tennis ball would go,” she says. She continues explaining how their opponents were very kind making her comfortable and happy to play. According to Herrera, her and Parker constantly encouraged each other and tried new techniques while playing.

Herrera also explains how they did well in recognizing their opponents’ style of play and used it to their advantage.

The Varsity and JV teams’ next match is Tuesday, April 13th, 2021 versus Lemoore. Varsity plays at Lemoore and JV plays at Redwood both starting at 4:00 PM.

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