Girls Varsity and JV Tennis Win Their First Two League Matches

Tuesday, April 13th 2021 at 4:00 PM, girls Varsity and JV tennis had their first league match against Lemoore High School. Varsity played at Lemoore taking a complete shut-out win 9-0, while JV stayed at Redwood and also took a win of 8-0.

Everyone on Varsity won their matches including: Elizabeth Gormley, ’21, Madelyn Adams, ’21, Sophia Degn, ’21, Joselyn Arellano, ’23, Ally Terrible, ’22, Reese Ainley, ’22, McKenzie Branch, ’22, and Alisha Shahroz, ’21.

Elizabeth Gormley, ’21, ranked number one, won both, her singles and doubles match in a complete shut-out. Her singles being 6-0, 6-0, and doubles 8-0.

To earn this win, Gormley’s main strategy was going directly for the net. She also focused on her shots all around the court to make her opponent run.

During her doubles, her and her partner, Joselyn Arellano, ’23 focused on their volleys and ending the point at the net. Gormley says, “I think we played well at the baseline and at the net, and being strong in both of these areas helped us to win.”

Starting off league with this incredible win, Gormley is very confident for the rest of the season. She says, “We had a rough start to the season, so it feels good to be successful and to be winning these matches.”

To prepare for her next match against Golden West on Thursday, the 15th, Gormley says, “We will prepare by working hard at practice and using the same strategies as we did in this match [against Lemoore]…”

Madelyn Adams, ’21, ranked number two, also won both, her singles and doubles match in a shut-out. Her singles being the same as Gormley, 6-0, 6-0, along with her doubles 8-0.

As usual, Adams strategies were to remain relaxed and aggressive throughout her matches. Her and her doubles partner, Sophia Degn, ’21 drove their balls to the net consistently, and communicated well which ultimately earned them the win without a struggle.

Degn, ranked number three, also won her singles 6-1, 6-1. Although she won, Degn believes she wasn’t on her usual A-game. She says, “I was playing so bad, struggling to get the ball over and was getting really frustrated.”

To prepare for her next match against Golden West, Degn will be “showing up to practice and putting in the work and mentally getting ready for the match,” she states.

McKenzie Branch, ’22, ranked number seven, and her doubles partner, Alisha Shahroz, ’21, ranked number eight won their doubles match 8-1.

Regarding their win, Branch says, “we really just worked on our cross-court shots and staying consistent and in control of the ball.”

Branch and Shahroz have never been partnered up for a match before, so they needed to adjust accordingly to the other’s strengths and weaknesses in order to work well together. Branch says, “I think Alisha and I will learn the best ways to play with one another and make adjustments from there. As long as we stay strong mentally, I am not worried.”

Winning the first league match of the season was a big motivator and spirit-lifter for the girls. Branch says, “It feels good starting off strong, it definitely pushes us to keep it up and continue to better ourselves as individual players and an overall team.”

Gormley says, “It feels great! We had a rough start to the season, so it feels good to be successful and to be winning these matches.”

Degn also says, “I’m very happy that we won our first league match. Very proud of the team and excited for the rest of league.”

Varsity girls tennis coach, Matt Gong is confident going into league. According to Gong, the team played three out of the four top teams in the Valley during their pre-season which prepared them mentally and physically.

Varsity beat Golden West 9-0 twice last year, so the team is going into the next match against them expecting them to be near the same level, “we should win dominantly over them. I think the whole team feels confident going into this match,” says Gong.

The Varsity girls and Gong are expecting Golden West to play similarly to Lemoore. Like Gong, most of the Ranger tennis athletes are confident that they will beat them. Degn says, “I’m confident that we can beat Golden West and keep the streak going.”

As mentioned before, the JV team also took a win against Lemoore with a shut-out of 8-0.

Brooke O’Leary, ’22, ranked number one, won her singles match 8-3. Going into the match, she knew Lemoore was weaker than Redwood due to the fact it was their first match. O’Leary just needed to out-rally her opponent and she knew she would earn the point.

For her future match against Golden West, she will go in with that same strategy. O’Leary isn’t expecting too much of a competition from Golden West, but then again, she isn’t relying on that. She is going to go in with her “usual ‘need to win’ mindset,” she says.

Trinity Garcia, ’22, ranked number two, also won her singles match 8-2. During the match, she focused on her placement of the ball on the court and her positioning. She hit the ball consistently cross-court tiring out her opponent. This is Garcia’s first year playing singles matches, so she’s very proud with the way she’s been playing.

Cailyn Jensen, ’22, ranked number three, won her doubles match 8-4. She feels her strengths during the match was her consistency and ability to out-rally her opponents.

To prepare for her match against Golden West, her and her partner, Anastasia Cardona, ’22 will practice and work on being more aggressive at the net.

Like the Varsity girls, Jensen is also expecting Golden West to play similarly to Lemoore, however a little more consistent when returning the ball.

O’Leary and Jensen are very excited to start league off with a win and hope to continue that way for as long as they can.

Post-Golden West Match

On Thursday, the 15th at 4:00 PM, Varsity and JV played Golden West High School. Varsity played at Redwood, while JV traveled to Golden West. Both teams took yet another win for their second match of league. JV won 8-0, and Varsity 9-0.

Although Gormley won her singles 6-1, 6-0 and her doubles 8-2, she felt that she had an off-day. However, even on an off-day, she still doesn’t disappoint and follows through to win her matches.

Adams also won her singles 6-0, 6-1, and she didn’t have a doubles match. Only having one match was new to Adams, she enjoyed only having to play her singles. Throughout the match, she did her best to remain relaxed, focus on her ball placement, and swinging fast.

Unlike her match against Lemoore, Degn felt she was back to her usual style of play. She won her singles 6-0, 6-0, and her doubles 8-0. Her matches went the way she expected, her opponents didn’t put up much competition and she was able to win without a struggle.

Her and her doubles partner, Reese Ainley, ’22 have only played together once, but have had multiple practices together. They were able to communicate and work accordingly with each other to win their match without getting scored against.

Unlike her pervious match, Garcia played a doubles match for Varsity, whereas she played a singles for JV against Lemoore. Her and her partner, O’Leary won 8-0. Garcia was very nervous to play for Varsity given she’s never played with them before, however she was glad for the opportunity and proud to know she could play at that level and win.

Although playing for Varsity is new, playing with O’Leary isn’t. Garcia and O’Leary have played together multiple times as they are both the top two players on JV.

Meanwhile on the JV team, all the players also won their matches concluding with an overall score of 8-0.

Jensen won her doubles 8-0. She went into the match playing the way she usually does which worked out for her as she and her partner won without getting scored on. According to her, she hit the ball deep and at her opponent’s feet making it more difficult for them to return the ball.

Even though her opponent wasn’t too much of a competition, Jensen didn’t let her guard down and kept her game at high intensity to win her match.

For their third league match, the Varsity and JV teams’ will play on April 20th, 2021 at 4:00 PM against Hanford High. Varsity will be playing away, while JV stays at Redwood.

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