Women’s tennis beats Pleasant Grove on Senior Night

By Jackson Masiel,
BlueDevilHUB.com Editor–

The Davis High women’s tennis team defeated Pleasant Grove handily in their last league match on Senior Day, Oct. 17, by a margin of 9-0.

Before the match, coach Sally Hosley huddled with her team and honored the two seniors– Nancy Avoce and Ellie Baker.

Junior standout Lillian Okamoto, who is verbally committed to Utah State University, used her impressive serves and athleticism en route to a 6-1 and 6-1 victory. Okamoto controlled the match throughout. Although she didn’t feel it was her strongest day, she got valuable practice in certain areas of her game.

“I got a higher percentage of my returns in today, compared to last match where they were kind of letting me down. I also got to work on my net game today, which is out of my comfort zone for sure,” Okamoto said.

The No. 2 player, senior Nancy Avoce, also defeated her Pleasant Grove opponent 6-1 and 6-1. She credited her strategy with the decisive victory.

“I didn’t try to hit shots that were too hard or fast […] I used good strategy today. Tennis is a mental game,” Avoce said.

The remaining four singles players won their matches 7-5 and 6-1, 6-1 and 6-0, 7-5 and 6-3, and 6-3 and 6-4.

Hosley is impressed with how the team did despite several usual singles players not competing. She hopes the success will carry on into the sections matches, which are in two weeks.

“Hopefully we can win a couple rounds and get to the quarters or the semis of the sections–the girls have worked hard; I think they can do that,” Hosley said.

Okamoto is excited for the sections matches, and hopes the team can redeem itself after losing them last year.