Women’s tennis defeats Pleasant Grove

By Roland Li,
BlueDevilHUB.com Editor–

Forty minutes. That’s all it took for senior and Davis High varsity women’s tennis team member Lauren Duan to defeat her opponent, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 3 singles. Duan’s performance reflected the performance of the team as a whole as the Devils went on to win 8-1 against Pleasant Grove on Thursday, Sept. 22.

“I got to get a feel for my playing again and work on some stuff that I haven’t been able to recently,” Duan said.

Soon after Duan’s victory, No. 1 and No. 2 singles players sophomore Lillian Okamoto and freshman Lyna Jiang quickly came off the courts with 6-0, 6-0 wins. Meanwhile, No. 4 singles player Chiara Armstrong nabbed a dominant 6-0, 6-2 win.

Head coach Sally Hosley believed that playing against easier opponents can also be difficult, in a way.

“It’s hard to stay true to your game when you are playing someone not quite at your level,” Hosley said. “It’s really hard to play your best when you don’t have to.”

But DHS didn’t just dominate the singles courts– doubles players also performed well against their opponents. Hosley was happy to see the growing cohesion between her doubles pairs as the matches progressed. At No. 2 doubles, senior Frances Quynn and junior Sage Furman only let one game go, winning 6-0, 6-1.

“Our communication was great and we really worked well together,” Quynn said.

Although many of the matches went by quickly, other matches were longer and tougher. At No. 5 singles, senior Amy Fang lost a hard-fought match, 6-4, 6-2. Every member of the team was supporting No. 6 singles player junior Nancy Avoce, who was able to pull through with a 6-4, 6-2 win.

The win over the Eagles was seemingly easy for the Devils, but Hosley still thought the match was valuable.

“Every match is important for the team because it gives the girls a chance to play other girls with varying abilities and styles,” Hosley said.

This victory marks the midpoint of the team’s league matches. After playing McClatchy on Tuesday, the Devils will have played every team in the league again.

“At this point we have played most of the teams in our league,” Duan said. “So we now have an idea of where we stand in the league.”